Sam The Andorian
by Susan Hilton
Summary: Sam Beckett leaps into a female Andorian security officer on the Enterprise-D to thwart a plan by original series and Next Gen baddies to use his QL facility for evil. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

A Giant Leap

Chapter One

Sam awoke in the darkness, thinking that finally, this was a peaceful leap. He pushed himself to a sitting position on the edge of what appeared to be a bed. Confused and uncertain of his surroundings, he slowly got to his feet. Not knowing where he had leaped to, he slowly explored the room, noticing a light that seemed to be streaming through the bottom of a door that led to another room. As he approached the door, he jumped back, a little startled, as it automatically slid open, bathing him in light. Relaxing, he began to realize that the doors were probably programmed to open as they were approached. He noticed also that his skin seemed to be a light blue color. _It must be the light in here, _he thought to himself. He stepped into a bathroom, and, as was his custom, looked for a mirror. When he found it this time and looked directly into it, nothing he had experienced before prepared him for what he saw. Confused and a little frightened, all Sam could manage to do was exclaim "Oh, boy!"

***

Sam had ended up in many strange places and many unexpected situations during his many leaps. He had been men, women, children, and even animals on occasion. Not only had he experienced life as different genders and ages, he had also been people of different races and creeds. However, nothing had prepared him for what he saw in the mirror now. He stared with dismay at the image.

The first thing he considered by way of an explanation, was that he was in another science fiction television show, like the time he was in an actor who played a character named "Future Boy" in a cheaply produced show for children in the nineteen fifties. Perhaps that is what he was dealing with here. Maybe he was now an actress, playing "Future Girl". However, that theory was quickly ruled out when he couldn't detect any cameras or stage lights. As he left the bathroom, shaken, he half-expected to hear a director yell "Cut!" but none materialized. Instead, with the aid of the bathroom light, he could see another person's form in the bed he had just exited. The light must have disturbed the other person, for he or she stirred in the bed. Sam heard the other person ask, in a distinctly male voice, "Are you coming back to bed, Tola dear?"

"Oh, boy, oh, boy,oh,boy!" Sam muttered to himself. Then, as he usually did, he thought quickly. "Not quite yet. I might be a little while. Don't wait up for me. Just go back to sleep…honey." He had added the last word since the man in the bed had called him 'dear'. It was then that Sam noticed the soft, gentle, whispery, almost snake-like quality of the voice of the woman he had leapt into. As he stepped back into the washroom, the door closed behind him again. It had been a strange, but pleasant-sounding voice. Obviously, this woman's vocal chords were different. However, as he returned to the mirror, he still wasn't ready to give up the idea that he was a regular human female wearing rather strange makeup. Maybe she and her husband, if that was who that was in the other room, had come back from a costume party, and she had been so tired that she had fallen asleep without taking her costume off. At least he now knew her name. _"Tola," _he whispered to himself wonderingly, getting a feel for the name. Strange, but pleasant, like her voice.

Testing his costume theory, he first pulled on Tola's white hair, hoping it was a wig, only to discover otherwise. _She must have bleached it! _Sam guessed to himself. He then picked up a bar of soap and figuring out how the faucet worked, scrubbed at the blue skin on her face and hands, but the color didn't come off. Starting to seriously doubt that this Tola person was wearing makeup, but, unwilling to give up hope, he reached up and grabbed a knobby antennae and gave it a yank. However, instead of coming off, all that happened was that Sam suddenly got a blinding, skull-pounding headache. _"Jeez, she must have put these suckers on with Crazy Glue!" _Sam moaned, as tears of pain welled up in his eyes, now thinking this woman must be insane and that he just leaped into an asylum. But, who was that guy in her bed? By his demeanor, he couldn't be her doctor. That would have been unprofessional conduct on his part. However, he finally convinced himself that Tola's reflection revealed her true nature when he once again reached up to the still throbbing antennae and pinched the rim of the disk-like protrusion at the end, only to experience another sharp pain. He quickly pulled his hand away and looked at the long fingernails on the thumb and forefinger he used to pinch the antenna with. At the tips of them, he saw an inky blue fluid that looked like dark transmission fluid from a car, a fluid that could only be blood. "Oh, boy…." He groaned again. "I must be some kind of Martian. Al, where are you?"

***

Admiral Al Calavicci left the waiting room in Project Quantum Leap, only to have Gushie almost run into him as he made his way over to Al as quickly as he could.

"Have you confirmed our…uh…guest's story?" Al asked. "Is she for real?"

"So it would seem." The short scientist replied as he pushed his slipping glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

"How is that possible?" Al asked. "Sam is only supposed to leap into people who lived during his lifetime! How does Ziggy explain this?"

"Well," Gushie replied, "Ziggy said that Dr. Beckett's life consists of a future as well as a past."

"Yes, I know, but I find it impossible to believe that, even if Sam gets back, he'll live for another three-hundred and sixty-six years!"

"True, but Ziggy claims that it is quite possible that, since Sam presently exists outside the normal space/time continuum, he is able to exist in infinity, having no set date for the end of his life. Existing outside linear time, he is caught in a time loop that must extend into infinity, even though he has a set date of birth. However, since he has no set date of his demise, he is apparently able to travel anywhere in the future."

"So, what you are saying is that Sam is immortal while leaping?" Al asked with a skeptical grin.

"Well, that's putting it rather simplistically, but I guess you could say that."

"And what odds does Ziggy give this possible explanation?"

"She gave it a one hundred percent probability rating."

"Really?" Al answered, surprised. He had never known Ziggy to be so absolute about anything before. "So why hasn't Sam ever traveled into the future before?"

"Ziggy can't answer that." Gushie replied. "Maybe whoever or whatever is in control of Sam's leaps had never considered it necessary before."

"Then why now? Does Ziggy have any idea why Sam's in the future now?"

"Ziggy has three possible reasons for this. She says that there is a sixty percent chance that Sam is there to prevent a future disaster that will change the course of history, a twenty-four percent chance that he is there to prevent people from the future from changing the past on Earth, and a sixteen percent chance that he is there to discover some future technology that will help him leap home once and for all."

"Wow," Al replied, as he headed back to the imaging chamber. "I'd better not keep Sam waiting."

***

"Where have you been, Al?" Sam immediately asked as the admiral finally appeared in Tola's bathroom. "I'm some kind of Martian named Tola!"

"Well, she's a Martian in a figurative sense. She is of a violent race. However, she's pretty harmless. She's actually an Andorian from a planet called Andor."

"So...I'm here to stop these...Andorians...from invading Earth. I figure I must be aboard a spaceship." Sam said thoughtfully. "I can sense motion."

"Yes, you are on board a spaceship" Al replied, glancing out a port window, seeing the stars streak by. "As a matter of fact, Sam, you are aboard the Federation starship USS Enterprise-D, of an outfit called the United Federation of Planets. Because of the very familiar sound of the starship's name, I seriously doubt that you are here to stop these people from invading Earth." He paused for a momentand listened as Tola gave him more information. "Earth is their base of operations as well as the seat of this Federation government. The Earth--our Earth--is the main founding world of this Federation."

"How is that possible?" A shocked Sam asked in a whisper.

"You're going to find this hard to believe, Sam, but it appears that you are in the year 2367 A.D.."

"That's impossible!" Sam gasped forcefully.

"Not according to Ziggy or this alien woman." Al grinned.

"Why? What does she say?" Sam asked, still worried. Al then explained to Sam everything Ziggy told Gushie concerning how he could be in the future, as Sam, weak-kneed and shaken from shock, plunked down in a sitting position on Tola's toilet. Lucky thing the lid was down. "You're going to have to get more information from this woman in the waiting room, especially if I'm going to pose as her. For one thing," Sam grinned. "Who's that guy in her bed? Are they living in sin?"

"That man's name is Alice VF Cooper, the seventh. As for them living in sin, they have no concept of our old Earthly morality. He's your...or I should say, Tola's lover. Lover, boyfriend, significant other, whichever you prefer. His rank is Lieutenant and he is a security officer. This is incredible, Sam! He's a direct descendant of the rock singer! He even looks like our Alice Cooper, except for his pointed ears and upswept eyebrows. Now, don't act surprised when you see him in the full light."

"Well, it's obvious that we are going to need this Tola's help more than we've ever needed the help of any other guest we've ever had in the waiting room, especially since Ziggy won't be able to assist us much with historical records as she usually does. We are in totally uncharted waters here."

"Agreed."

"What does Tola do aboard this ship?"

"She's also a security officer. They're both under the command of another alien named Worf. He's a big scary-looking dude called a Klingon. He's the chief of security on this vessel."

"I see. Al, I think it would be a good idea to be totally honest with Miss Tola. Tell her everything she wants to know and answer all her questions honestly."

"Do you think that's wise?" Al asked.

"Sure" Sam replied thoughtfully, in a reassuring voice. "After all, Tola's of the future, so she doesn't fall into the same category as our other visitors from the past. We don't have to worry about her changing our past if she remembers Quantum Leap when she returns to the future. Besides, our complete honesty with her will hopefully convince her of our good intentions and encourage her and whoever the captain of this ship might be to help us with whatever I am supposed to do here."

"Tola told me that the captain is a human named Picard." Al informed him. "I guess what you said before makes some sense. In that case, I'll go and see what she can tell us about the time we are in, in addition to what she's already revealed to us."

"Yeah, like how I'm supposed to pose as a security officer on a starship." Sam sighed helplessly as Al disappeared. "My stars!" He muttered to himself "I really am Future Girl!"


	2. Chapter 2

A Giant Leap-Chapter 2

Tola was gazing down at the table in the waiting room, looking at Sam's reflection staring back up at her from its reflective surface as she listened to the other human talk. Sam's human male reflection replacing her own convinced her more than anything else that what the admiral told her was true.

"I do believe what you are telling me is true, Mr. Calavicci. There is a similar incident in Federation archives, in which life entity transfer was achieved by a mechanical device on a planet called Camus II. In light of that, and other things, I cannot tell you about the future. Your future is mostly our past, and I can't risk changing the past, especially your planet's. It might have catastrophic effects on the entire Federation."

"I understand that, Miss Tola." Al replied. "That is why I have a suggestion that might solve both our dilemmas."

"Let's hear it then." Tola answered cautiously.

"It would seem that your concern would be that if people of this time learn about what happens between now and the twenty-fourth century, they might try to manipulate the future for selfish gain, thereby changing what must be."

"That is correct, sir."

"However, if you were only to tell me about the twenty-fourth century, leaving out what happens between now and then, then no one would know here what happens in the immediate future to create the future you live in. So, if you only tell me about the twenty-fourth century, without any references to previous centuries, that would prevent us from manipulating the future, since we won't know how the twenty-fourth century came to be as it is—as well as satisfy our needs here at Project Quantum Leap."

"As the Vulcans would say, " Tola smiled. "A most logical and practical alternative. I see no problems with going along with your suggestion, as long as we don't discuss anything that takes place between our time and yours."

"Agreed." Al smiled, wondering about the Vulcans.

"I frankly do not see how your Doctor Beckett is going to effectively take my place without raising serious suspicions among the crew…unless he has support and assistance from someone on the Enterprise."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"I would say that your best bet would be Alice—Lieutenant Cooper." Tola replied. "He just transferred to the ship from the USS Constellation. He knows quite a bit about how a starship is run. Since I am also new to the ship, Captain Picard will have to be let in on this."

"Does the Enterprise have a first officer?"

"Yes, of course, but we must limit the number of people who know about this transfer that just occurred. We will let him know only if it becomes necessary. The ship's counselor might get suspicious as well. She's a Betazoid empath, and she will no doubt figure out what has happened eventually. Samuel's first contact should be with Cooper, because I am sure what his reaction would be when he finds out. This incident also cannot possibly be kept from Starfleet Command, since Captain Picard has to make a full report about everything that happens on the ship. Besides, I think Alice will be easier to convince that Dr. Beckett inhabits my body in the twenty-fourth century. All you have to do is have him perform a Vulcan mind meld on me—oh, I mean Dr. Beckett—to verify his identity. Being human, the first officer wouldn't be able to verify Doctor Beckett's true identity and might end up having him declared mentally unfit and have him relieved of duty. Essentially, the fewer people who know about this the better."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, except for one thing; ask Dr. Beckett to go to sick bay about my antennae. They are not meant to be yanked in that fashion. He might have seriously injured me. Also, tell Alice about our agreement not to discuss historical events from your time to mine."

"You got it." Al assured her. "I'd better get back to Sam before your Alice gets suspicious."

***

After another few minutes of important information, Sam stepped out of the bathroom to tell the man in the bed that he wasn't who he appeared to be. Al also told Sam to try not to stare at all the aliens he would no doubt encounter, including another security officer called a Bajoran, named Lem Bartel. Tola had successfully petitioned the captain on his behalf about wearing his earring while on duty. Tola told Al about the Prime Directive and about Starfleet's former rather unfair policy about personal adornment. They had successfully and forcefully argued that Mr. Lem should be able to wear his earring because it was a part of his culture. To forbid him to wear it would be a small violation of the non-interference directive. Thanks to her efforts, Starfleet's new policy was that a person could wear any accessory they wanted, as long as the item did not interfere with their duties or pose a danger to themselves, other crew members, or to the ship.

Sam soon found out that he had the ability to pick up stray thoughts from the sleeping man in the bed. At that moment, he was dreaming about sex with Tola. Sam blushed, thinking that perhaps Mr. Cooper was picking up some of Al's thoughts as well. He then thought better of it. Nobody could get telepathic impressions from a hologram. So far, this leap was an extraordinary experience. He had never leaped into a genuine space alien telepath before.

He had decided to forego a trip to sickbay for now. Being a doctor himself, Sam didn't think he hurt Tola that much when he tugged on her antenna. The pain was almost gone, except for the tip of the sensory organ where he had pinched it. He couldn't find any toilet paper or band aids to stop the bleeding, so he washed it the best he could to prevent infection. The bleeding stopped on its own accord, but the antenna still smarted. Sam thought that his first order of business after introducing himself to the man in the bed would be to familiarize himself with the crew of this vessel. He had a feeling that he would see a lot of strange things in the next few days.

"Tell him now, Sam." Instructed Al softly, even though he knew the man in the bed couldn't possibly hear him.

"Is he awake?" Sam asked in a whisper.

"He's half asleep. Go ahead. It's time for the two of you to wake up and start the day anyway. Good luck, Sam. You're going to need it."

"Gee, thanks." Sam said with a grimace. He gently shook the sleeping man. "Alice…"

"Morning already, darling?" Alice muttered. "I was having such a great dream."

"Yes, I know. Back to reality, Casanova."

The man sat up and looked at what he thought was his love in the semi-darkness quizzically. He frowned, noticing that his girlfriend's antenna looked a little darker than normal.

"Lights, Computer." He ordered. Sam finally saw Tola's lover in the full light and inwardly gasped. He covered his eyes to cover his astonishment. "Are you all right, honey? I never knew you to be sensitive to light. What happened to your antenna?"

Sam thought quickly.

"It got caught between the mattress and the headboard."

"Ouch! I bet it hurts. Maybe you should go and see Crusher."

"Maybe later. I have to be on duty in less than an hour."

Alice looked at her for a long moment. Sam could read in his thoughts that Tola's culture discouraged her from expressing any kind of physical discomfort.

Sam's eyes quickly adjusted to the increased light. He tried not to stare at Cooper as he got up, stretched, and then tried to kiss him. Sam shrank away, and muttered something about morning breath.

"Sorry, sweetie. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Sam sighed with relief as Alice went into the bathroom for some mouthwash. Al grinned at him.

"Nice save, Sam!" He then admonished Sam that Alice was very probably still going to kiss him—or, rather, Tola—after he got out of the bathroom.

"Yes, I know!" Sam whispered back a little irritably.

"What do you know, sugar?" Alice asked curiously.

Sam decided that it was best to tell him the truth right now to save himself further embarrassment.

"I'm not Tola!"

Alice grinned.

"Is this like when we play 'Cleopatra and the naughty Roman Centurion'?"

Quite taken aback and unsuccessfully trying to ignore Al who was cracking up, all Sam could do was mumble "no" before finally blurting out everything in one long string of words, telling the whole story of Quantum Leap and his adventures leaping from one life to another. The eager grin on Cooper's face told Sam that further proof would be required, so, recalling what Tola said in the waiting room to Al, Sam asked Alice to perform a Vulcan mind meld, having little knowledge of what that was, but knowing that it would prove that what he was saying was true.

This time, it was Alice who was taken aback, thinking at first that he just stepped through the looking glass. For a long moment, he saw Sam's claims in a new light. It was not often that such a personal thing was asked of him on a voluntary basis. To have been asked by Tola was virtually unthinkable, considering her telepathic abilities. They could communicate with each other without touching. Shrugging to himself, he decided to perform the meld. After its successful completion, he sat on the edge of Tola's bed in a state of shock while Sam talked on about how Tola wanted him to help him pretend to be her. Basically, Sam told Alice everything that Tola told Al in the waiting room. Cooper had heard every word, and had committed it all to total recall, but he still had a shocked look on his face. Unsure whether the alien was paying full attention to his words, Sam asked him if he was listening.

"Yeah, sure…." Alice replied in a shaky voice.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked.

"Oh, sure!" The shaky quality left the man's voice in a moment, replaced by an irritated, resentful tinge. "Some guy from the past pulls a Doctor Janice Lester on my girlfriend, puts this ship in danger, and then he asks me if I'm all right!"

"Hey, this leap wasn't my idea! How have I put the ship in danger?"

"Any time a ship is deprived of an essential crewmember puts it at risk of potential danger."

"Oh, all right. You might as well tell me how to impersonate your girlfriend."

"Very well." Alice replied a little reluctantly, and sighed. "But before you can talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. Let's get you dressed." As Alice helped Sam get dressed in Tola's uniform, Al was doing wolf whistles and making sexist remarks about her body, laughing and grinning. It was hard to ignore him. When he finished, Alice handed him a PADD with the picture files of the crew in it, especially the command crew, so Sam would know them on sight. Having a good memory, Sam committed each picture and the names that went along with them to memory. When they reached the file on Doctor Crusher, Sam was pleasantly surprised, expecting her to look like a professional wrestler. He then remembered that he was told by Tola to see her about what he did to Tola's antenna. When Sam told Alice that he had to see the doctor and why he had to, Alice sighed in disgust.

"Oh, that's just wonderful!"

"What's the matter now?"

"Well, for one thing, Andorian antennae are very sensitive. Secondly, that explanation that you gave to me will never be believed by Dr. Crusher. She knows that Tola would never do what you did, and also knows that your bed doesn't have a headboard! How are we going to explain this injury to her?"

"Let me handle that." Sam grinned. "After all the talking my way out of tricky situations on so many leaps I've lost count, I have become quite an expert at it."

"OK…" Cooper said doubtfully and reluctantly. "But I take over if you get stuck."

"Agreed." Sam replied. "Just don't leave my side."

"Don't worry, Mr. Beckett. I plan to stick to you like glue."


	3. Chapter 3

A Giant Leap, Chapter 3

Doctor Crusher closely examined the damage to Tola's antenna, using some sort of really cool laser device to close up the area where the skin was broken. She used another device called a medical tricorder to scan for further damage. As the attractive lady doctor treated the injuries, Sam and Alice gave her their agreed upon cover story about Lem's pet hook spider getting loose and entering Tola's quarters.

"So, Snookums got loose again." Crusher stated a little doubtfully.

"That's right." Alice replied. "Fortunately, I was able to grab it by its long spindly legs before it got too far and brought it back to Lem."

"That's a stupid name for a spider!" Sam smirked and giggled nervously under his breath. He could actually see the ugly creature in Tola's mind. Alice also told him telepathically that hook spiders were harmless. He felt a chill, anyway, but he didn't want to appear anxious. He never liked spiders that much.

"Yes, it is." Crusher agreed, giving them both a suspicious look. "However, that does not explain why you yanked your antenna and pinched it, instead of just brushing Snookums away."

"We were both half asleep, not really aware of what we were doing." Sam replied, thinking fast again. "At first, I just felt an itch, so I reached up to scratch and touched a spider leg. I yelled and Alice reached for the spider and thought he had a leg when in reality, he had my antenna. Needless to say, he gave it a good, painful yank and accidentally squeezed it."

"I see. That's understandable. I probably would have done the same thing. I hate those things. It's bad enough that Miles O'Brien has to have an Earth tarantula as a pet, but Bart's pet is even creepier." Crusher replied. However, the strange look she gave them both told Sam that she didn't really buy their story, or at least had some doubts about its authenticity. Sam, still not quite used to telepathy, found the sudden grin that appeared on Alice's face equally confusing, as Doctor Crusher told Sam that Tola's antenna was healed.

As they left sick bay, Sam turned to Cooper and asked him what was so funny and why he was smiling. Sam was amazed at how far medical science had progressed in three hundred years as well.

"Didn't you notice that Beverly didn't believe our cover story about Snookums escaping and somehow getting into your—I mean, Tola's quarters? Not to mention the somewhat disapproving look she gave both of us."

"So?" Sam responded innocently. "What are you getting at? You have to admit it was a pretty flimsy story to begin with."  
"What I'm getting at," Alice snickered, "Is that the reason the good doctor didn't believe our story about the hook spider is because she is convinced that the reason your antenna got injured was due to a night of unbridled, passionate love-making, involving you and me, in which we both got carried away."

Before Sam could reply that Dr. Crusher had a rather vivid imagination, they were interrupted by Tola's com badge. Remembering how Cooper told him how to operate it, Sam told the officer on the other end that he would be on the bridge as soon as he could.

"Very good, Mr. Beckett." Alice complimented. "You handled that well. Now let's see what Mr. Worf wants."

***

Worf immediately approached them the moment they stepped onto the bridge, Alice following close behind his pseudo girlfriend. Worf thought it was a little odd to see him on the bridge with Tola, but then thought that perhaps the captain had previously summoned him for some reason.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Worf?" Sam asked, keeping his fear of this big burly…Klingon?...in check. Alice told him he was correct about his race telepathically. Sam was also a bit overwhelmed by all the gadgetry that surrounded him, but kept a poker face.

"Yes, Tola. We just received orders from Starfleet Command, ordering us to divert our course for the Klingon Empire." Worf replied, briefly wondering why she looked a little frightened by him. He didn't know much about female Andorians, so he figured that this was how they reacted to new assignments.

"It appears that Starfleet just received word from the Klingon High Command that three renegade Klingon birds of prey have traveled back in time, using the slingshot effect, to the year 2001 A.D. Their destination is sector zero zero one." Captain Picard added gravely.

"Earth…" Cooper said, trying to sound awed, and, at the same time, supplying Sam with much-needed information.

"And what do they want in that time period with Earth? Don't they have enough problems with Arab terrorists bombing the World Trade Center with aircrafts?" Sam asked, somewhat nervously, not believing it a mere coincidence that Worf's people were heading for the time he was from. Picard's answer only confirmed his already forming hunch.

"I see you are a keen student of Earth history, Miss Tola. According to the Klingon high council, the renegades plan to take control of an ancient top-secret scientific experiment that was conducted on Earth at that time called 'Quantum Leap'. They seem to think that this Quantum Leap thing will allow them to change Earth's history, and not for the better."

"Captain, do you have any idea what this Quantum Leap project was all about?" Cooper asked, more out of curiosity, considering what was officially known about it in the present century than out of a need to actually know more about the project itself. He glanced at Sam, realizing that it was an interesting and successful one.

Deanna Troi, who was seated next to Picard to his left, in front of a computer display, suddenly got the impression that the new security officer seemed a little too frightened for an Andorian. She frowned in Sam's direction, but said nothing.

"Being it was pretty hush-hush at the time, nobody said much about it, but we will learn more when we rendezvous with the IKV Doomstar and the USS Constellation at the Federation/Klingon border." Worf said.

"How did they find out about this Quantum Leap thing?" Sam asked.

Troi's eyes began to narrow with suspicion as she felt the distinct impression that somehow their new Andorian officer knew much more about the Quantum Leap project than she let on. Cooper sensed the Betazoid's impressions, and relayed her thoughts to Sam telepathically. This made her even more suspicious, but she kept her place for now.

"According to the subspace message we received," Worf replied, "The secret of the Quantum Leap project was discovered by a Klingon spy who fell out of favor with the Empire. His name was P'Kror. About a century ago, he was posing as a human aboard Space Station K-7. He was exposed by a tribble and Captain James T. Kirk. At the time, he was known by the humans as Arne Darvin. He took what he found about Quantum Leap to the Klingon high council, along with his plan to use it to change history somehow, in hopes that he would be looked upon with favor by the Klingon government. Instead, they rejected his ideas as ludicrous and dishonorable. However, it would seem that the leaders of the renegades took P'Krorl up on his plan and are in the process of implementing it."

"Do you have any idea who the leaders of the renegade Klingons are, Mr. Worf?" Picard asked.

"Yes, sir. They are none other than Lursa and B'Etor of the house of Duras."

Sam looked back at Alice questioningly, not noticing that Deanna was now standing, with a determined and very suspicious look on her face. Alice noticed, though, and, forgetting himself, quickly told Sam verbally that the Klingons and the Federation were once bitter enemies. It was information that everyone on the bridge should have been aware of.

"Captain, I think these two are imposters! I suggest that you detain both of them. They might be alien spies."

"Are you sure, Deanna?" Riker asked.

"Absolutely. I get the distinct impression that these are not your new security officers, but surgically altered to pass as them."

"Mr. Worf, escort these two to my ready room immediately. I was wondering why Mr. Cooper was on the bridge with Tola. Deanna, please accompany us. Call two of your security guards, Mr. Worf."

"I already called them, Captain." Worf said, now pointing a phaser gun at them. "They will be here momentarily."

"Oh, boy…" Sam said, raising his hands in surrender along with Alice, and glancing back at the beautiful ship's counselor with wonder. He knew that he would be found out eventually, but was hoping to keep it as quiet as possible. Now everyone on the bridge knew that he was not who he appeared to be.

***

On the Constellation, Chief of security Ellsworth Vogen was feeling terrible. Each day, he felt worse. He meant to see Chief medical officer Akemar earlier, but he became busy when he also became the ship's intelligence officer. This morning, despite the sudden oddness of Akemar's behavior, he wasn't thinking of security matters, but now grew increasingly concerned that he had a serious ailment. His steps became progressively painful as he staggered into sickbay, uttered the chief medical officer's name, then collapsed.

Within a few minutes, Akemar had him on full life support and had called the captain immediately. Accompanying the captain were another security officer named Rivas Jakar, another Bajoran, and First Officer Little Creek, a native American human female.

"What happened to him?" Rivas asked, puzzled and shocked at this sudden turn of events.

"I regret to inform you that he has contracted a mutant strain of Vegan Choriomeningitis. Unfortunately, he came in too late. His condition is terminal."

"You mean he's dying?" Little Creek asked, looking equally shocked and dismayed. She already knew the answer.

The Vulcan doctor nodded gravely.

"There is nothing I can do but make him comfortable until the end. When it occurs, I shall grieve with thee."

"We appreciate that, Doctor." Rivas said. "Poor Ellsworth!"

"How did he contract the disease, Doctor?" Little Creek asked curiously.

"I suspect that he contracted it on Gamma Trianguli Six during his captivity there."

"Quite possible" Chav said, appearing quite upset about losing his chief of security. "Is the crew in danger?"

"They are not in immediate danger, but it would be prudent to have all humans come in for a complete examination and an inoculation."

"Why just humans?" Little Creek asked.

"This is a selective strain, meant to infect humans. The Vaalians have perfected germ warfare, and, as you know, have been fighting with the Federation for quite some time."

"What about the people who are half human or have some human blood in them?"

"They, too, will have to be checked immediately. The disease may not kill them, but it could make them very ill."

As Chav strode to the intercom to give the order, Vogen regained consciousness and called to his friend Rivas.

"Rivas..." he rasped painfully.

"Yes, my friend?"

"I'm sorry.... I should have...come here...earlier."

"It's not your fault." Rivas said, barely able to keep his emotions in check.

When he said that, Vogen breathed his last breath. Akemar solemnly covered him with a sheet.


	4. Chapter 4

A Giant Leap, chapter 4

Captain Picard glowered at Sam and Alice for a moment, and then told Sam he could lower his hands and ordered them to sit down. The well-trained security guards behind them did not lower their pistols, and had them pointed at both Sam and Alice. Sam noticed that one of the security guards was another blue-skinned space alien. Alice told him telepathically that he was a Bolian, whatever that was.

"All right, you two." Picard said, still standing. "I want to know who you are and what you are doing on this ship. I must remind you that those security guards behind you are crack shots. One false move and they will stun you and you will be in the brig when you wake up."

"First, may I say, sir, that your lovely counselor is very perceptive." Sam answered. "Alice is who he appears to be, but my name is Doctor Samuel Beckett. I'm sorry that I had to leap into Mr. Cooper's girlfriend, but I have no control over who I leap into."

Picard's eyes widened in surprise. It was obvious that he had heard of him. Deanna seemed to relax a little, but did not so much as crack a smile at his compliment. She still didn't believe that there was a man masquerading as the new security officer.

"_The_ Samuel Beckett? The man who headed up the Quantum Leap project himself?"

"You have heard of me, sir?" Sam asked, this time the one who was astonished.

"Indeed I have, Mr. Beckett, if that's your real name. In addition to being a starship captain, I am also an archeologist. The twenty-first century has always interested me. However, I am not fully convinced that you are who you say you are. You could still be an alien spy."

"I have one question, sir."

"What is that?"

"Who in the world is Dr. Janice Lester?"

Picard chuckled and relaxed, now convinced, and told the security guards to lower their weapons. Everyone in that room should have known the story about the twenty-third century archeologist and her discovery of a mechanical device that enabled her to pass as a male Starfleet captain. It was that instance that forced Starfleet to reconsider its position on letting women become starship captains. Alice smiled as Sam read all this in the captain's mind and smiled back. He was really beginning to enjoy telepathy.

"Counselor, you were right, but he's not an alien spy. Mr. Beckett, it is an unexpected pleasure to meet you. Where is my officer you are replacing?"

"She's in the Quantum Leap waiting room, sir. If those Duras sisters and Darvin are invading Earth, they quite probably used the World Trade Center attacks as a diversionary tactic. I think I know why I leaped into your security officer. With all her training, and the fact that she now looks like me, she would have some advantages over the would-be invaders."

"And some disadvantages," Deanna said with a smile. "You obviously have her telepathic ability."

Sam turned to look at her.

"My dear counselor, you seem to have some of that ability as well."

"I am half Betazoid, and half Human, Mr. Beckett. I can sense strong emotions, but can communicate telepathically with other Betazoids. By the way, Worf might look scary to you, but he is really a great big old pussy cat."

Riker grinned. "I doubt he would appreciate you calling him that, Deanna."

***

Two hours later, the Enterprise , the Constellation, and the Klingon vessel Doomstar rendezvoused. Captain Picard, Sam, Alice and Riker beamed aboard the Constellation, and met with the captain, another Andorian named Chav. This was turning out to be an interesting day for the man from the twenty-first century. In just the last two hours, he was introduced to a few real space aliens and had experienced his first transporter ride. He still wasn't sure if he cared much for the experience, but found the aliens rather interesting. Captain Picard had decided it was best to keep the fact that Sam wasn't Tola from them. To reveal that could open up a can of worms that he didn't want to deal with. Sam thought that the Klingons were sort of like an alien version of Earth's ancient Mongols. However, what Sam found most interesting was listening to those present discussing what was known about Quantum Leap in this century. So far, they seemed to know all the important details, which, as Sam listened to a Native American lady who was the first officer on the Constellation, named Little Creek, something that had crossed his mind before suddenly came to him again. It was something so obvious it surprised him that it hadn't occurred to him before.

"Gentlemen, Miss Little Creek, I don't see how these Duras Sisters plan to use Quantum Leap to travel to Earth's past." Sam said, having already learned the average lifespan of a Klingon. "Even if they or one of their followers stepped into the Quantum accelerator and was able to travel back in time, they'd end up only able to travel during their own lifetimes. Therefore, no matter where they ended up, in no matter whose body they end up inhabiting, they'd always be ending up in the twenty-fourth century—maybe the twenty-third, if they were born that early. However, if you're all correct in assuming that the Duras sisters plan to use Quantum Leap to travel even further into the past, and use the bodies of ancient humans to change history and prevent the formation of the Federation, they would need a volunteer who was at least four hundred or five hundred years old."

"Captain Picard, you have a very intelligent new security officer." The Klingon captain complimented, looking in Sam's direction. "However, hasn't anyone here informed this pretty young thing about Lursa and B'Etor's two-toned conspirator?"

From the confused look on Sam's face, it was obvious to everyone present that Sam hadn't been informed. Chav spoke up in Sam's defense, apologized to him for the confusion, and explained to Sam what the Klingon meant.

"Lieutenant Tola, my dear, have you ever heard of Commissioner Bele of the planet Cheron?"

When Sam answered in the negative, Chav told him all about how Bele had met the captain of the original starship Enterprise, James T Kirk, while chasing a political prisoner from Cheron named Lokai. Chav then told them about how that former captain left both Bele and Lokai on the devastated surface of Cheron to battle it out between themselves.

Bele managed to kill Lokai, and then, all alone on the surface of Cheron, developed a deep insane hatred of Kirk's entire race as well as the Federation. He blamed Kirk for leaving him all alone on Cheron to rot and had developed paranoid fantasies about Kirk being responsible for his never being rescued from the surface of Cheron. So, when Lursa and B'Etor set up a base of operations on Cheron during the Klingon civil war, and discovered Bele on the planet's surface, they found themselves united in their mutual contempt for humanity and the UFP. Bele's gratitude towards the Duras sisters for rescuing him led him to use his powers, soon becoming a valuable member of their team. When they learned of Quantum Leap, they formulated their plans, choosing Bele to be the one to step into the accelerator and travel through time.

That wasn't the half of it. When Sam heard that the reason that Bele had been chosen by the Duras sisters to leap through time was that Bele was over fifty thousand years old, it was all he could do to contain his shock. If this was true, and Alice confirmed it for Sam telepathically, then this Bele character could use Quantum Leap to leap into the body of any person in the recorded history of Earth, and even before. Any human who ever lived during the last fifty thousand years would be a sitting duck for Bele and the Klingon sisters to destroy humanity and the Federation.

"Captain Chav, condolences on the loss of your officer. What are our orders?"

"Thank you, Captain Picard. Our orders are to use the slingshot effect to travel back in time to stop them. We received permission from the temporal authorities to do so only an hour ago. Once we leave the Klingon border, we are to head to Bernard's star, six light years from Earth, and use it to create the effect. Since that system was completely uninhabited, no one should take note of our arrival."

"Are all three ships going back to the year 2001 together?" Sam asked, looking sideways at the two Klingons present.

"No" Captain Chav replied. "The Klingon High Council has other duties for the Doomstar. It will be just the Constellation and the Enterprise."

"So, when do we leave?" Picard asked.

"We will be leaving the Klingon border in a half an hour, and heading for the Bernard star system immediately, stopping at Starbase 514 to pick up a fresh supply of di-lithium crystals and other essential items and then we will go back in time early tomorrow morning."

Al appeared behind Sam and spoke softly to him.

"Ziggy has just determined that the odds are ninety percent in favor of you being here to help Captain Picard and Captain Chav use the Enterprise and the Constellation to destroy the Duras sister's ships, and, if necessary, be a part of an away team as Tola that would allow the Enterprise crew to take control of the Quantum Leap complex if the sisters succeed in landing a raiding party of their own to cease control of it in person."

As those present in the briefing room chose to leave, Sam hung back until he was the only one left in the room who could be seen.

"Well, in that case, Al, you'd better go to the waiting room and tell our lovely little Smurfette to prepare for her ship to be coming for her. I would love to see her reaction to that." He added with a grin.


	5. Chapter 5

A Giant Leap—Chapter 5

Turning a little more serious, Sam turned to Al.

"Al, I want you to let Miss Tola out of the waiting room, show her everything about the Quantum Leap project, including all the blueprints and floor plans. Also, ask her if she would be willing to help us to defend the complex from the Duras sisters and that Bele guy. Since she's in my body, she should cause no problems or confusion, walking around Earth in our century. All people will see when looking at her will be me, just another human male." Sam stopped for a moment, and then grinned again. "My only real worry now is that I might have to go to Earth's surface while still in this body. I might be captured by the authorities and end up in the Weekly World News or the National Enquirer, or, worse yet, end up getting this young lady's head cut off and stuffed into a jar of formaldehyde in a hangar in New Mexico somewhere. Then, I'd never get back to my body, and poor Tola would be trapped forever in my body while hers appears in an alien autopsy video."

"Lieutenant Tola, who are you talking to?" A young woman asked as she poked her upper body through the door. She then frowned in wonder. "Who are you and where is the Enterprise's new security officer?"

Sam turned and looked at the girl who had spoken. She had soft blonde hair, cut in a page boy style, and was wearing a blue uniform. She had a very visible and distinctive aura surrounding her, which Sam thought was very odd. He realized that she could see him as he really was, and was not seeing the Andorian security officer.

"Young lady, may I ask who you are and how you can see me?"

"I'm Ensign Carly Evans. I'm with security and I was ordered to escort you back to the transporter room. I'm part Thasian and can see things as they really are. Who are you?"

"Sam…you'd better tell her." Al warned. "Tola said she might have some remarkable abilities."

"So, your name is Sam. Sam what? And who's your goofy-looking friend?"

"You can see him too?"

"I think that's fairly obvious. Please answer my questions."

"Nice to meet you, Carly. My name is Dr. Samuel Beckett, and this is my assistant, Al Calavicci."

"All right, Mr. Beckett, if that's who you really are. Why are you impersonating Lieutenant Tola?"

"I leaped into her a couple of days ago, Miss Evans. Also, I have never heard of a Thasian. I'm from the twenty-first century."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Dad, is this some kind of sick joke? Why do you insist on ruining my life and the lives of everyone I associate with? Go away!"

"I can't, Miss Evans. I'm not your father. Do I look like him?"

"Well, no." Evans admitted softly, the door swishing shut behind her as she came all the way into the room. "But, that doesn't prove anything. My dad can appear to be anything, including a guy who claims to be from the past. If you are who you say you are, prove it."

"How?"

"Let me talk to Lieutenant Tola. That is possible, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Al, let Tola into the imaging chamber. Of course, Miss Evans, all you will see will be my body."

"From the conversation I just overheard, I deduced that. I'm not stupid, you know."

"I didn't say you were, Miss Evans."

A bright light in the shape of a door opened and the body of Samuel Beckett emerged.

"Miss Evans, I am Lieutenant Tola. I recently met your father. He no longer has Thasian powers and is now fully human. He's now living on Colony Five. The man you see is Samuel Beckett. Mr. Beckett is not your father, but a time traveler from the twenty-first century. By the way, your father never mentioned you." She then turned her attention to Sam. " Dr. Beckett…what's a Smurfette?"

***

As the Constellation made its way to Barnard's Star alongside the Enterprise, a Constellation crew member, who had just lost a dear friend to Vegan Choriomeningitis, was going through his personal effects, sorting and packing away his property so that it could be shipped back to his family. His friend's name had been Ellsworth Vogen, a security officer who had been one of many who had observed the restoratiion of a machine called Vaal on the planet Gamma Trianguli Six. Vogen had just transferred to the Constellation from the Enterprise, after discovering that his two best friends were also on board, not knowing that he had contracted a mutant strain of the deadly disease. The Constellation's human crew all had to be inoculated, to ensure that no one else would contract it. The door to Vogen's quarters slid open and Jack Auroras entered the room.

"I thought you would be showing up." Rivas said with a mournful sigh as Jack entered the room. Rivas was a Bajoran. He had wanted to do the Death Chant for his friend, but the seriousness of their current mission did not give him enough time. Jack was human, with dark brown hair and piercing dark brown eyes. People often mistook him for a Betazoid, but he had no telepathic abilities.

"Hey, I promised I would be here. I wouldn't make you do this on your own."

"What have you got there?" Rivas asked, as Jack sat down in the chair next to his and set a bottle on the table in front of them.

"Saurian brandy" Jack answered with a little smile. "Ellsworth's favorite brand. I thought we could toast his memory with it as we packed his stuff away."

As the two of them passed the bottle back and forth, they didn't get much packing done. They sat there reminiscing about their deceased friend. Ever since the three of them met at the academy, Auroras, Rivas and Vogen had been the closest of friends, just like the Three Musketeers. However, now they were one "musketeer" short, and both men keenly felt Vogen's absence as they sat there together toasting Vogen with the brandy.

A little later, they came across a photo album amongst Ellsworth's belongings that had a series of pictures in it of the three of them together on Risa and Wrigley's Pleasure Planet, on some of their more memorable shore leaves. Both Jack and Rivas remembered their first vacation together on Risa, when Vogen first met his buddy Jack. Rivas had a brief fling with an Orion woman, while Jack spent half of his vacation trying to avoid an overly aggressive Caitian woman who had been in feline heat at the time. Each picture in the album led both men to tell another cathartic, almost healing story about Ellsworth and all the good times they had together. These things, the passing of the bottle and the swapping of stories, went on for over an hour before the two best friends finally got down to the job of packing up. However, even as they packed, they still talked back and forth to one another, both about Vogen as well as about whom to send particular items to and where. Finally, their time together was cut short as Captain Chav's voice came across Rivas' com badge, telling them both that the ship was approaching Barnard's Star and to report to engineering for the slingshot effect.

***

The Constellation's ship's counselor Courtney Mudd activated low-level lighting as she entered her quarters. It had been one heck of a day aboard the Constellation. The death of Vogen had come as a shock to everyone, and the fact that he had died of Vegan Choriomeningitis was particularly disturbing for Courtney. Her great grandmother, Pearl Fenton, had died of the same disease just one week before the publication of her first and only novel, "The Amazing Adventures of Harry". It had become an interplanetary best seller, as well as bearing Courtney's grandfather's name. Harcourt Fenton Mudd had been an adventurous rogue, and, to his credit, his journals had inspired his granddaughter to follow in his footsteps; not as a rogue, but as a space traveler. His entries about the grandmother she'd never met were surprisingly tender. She'd heard much about him from her mother, and had always hated the deadly disease for robbing her of someone who knew this lovable rascal.

Ellsworth Vogen had been a likable person too, and Courtney had admired and respected him. He'd had many friends among the crew, and they all missed him terribly. His absence felt like there was a tremendous breach in the ship's hull, a hole that could not be easily mended. As the ship's counselor, she knew she had her work cut out for her.

It wasn't just the death of Vogen that troubled Courtney tonight. She'd just finished a double shift, and felt hungry, worn out and depressed. Nobody had to be a telepath or an empath to feel the sadness permeating the atmosphere of the ship, but there was another problem nagging away at her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something not quite right about Dr. Akemar.

A hot bath seemed like a better idea than food right now, and, walking right by the sonic shower, Courtney strode into the little cubicle which held a quaint antique bath tub. She didn't know who the officer was who had first brought the tub on board, or how he or she had gotten permission to have it installed. It was already there when she became the ship's counselor. Whoever he or she had been, she quietly thanked her benefactor as she activated the stream of warm water, tipping in some of the scented skin-cleansing foam she'd purchased during a recent shore leave.

Stripping off her uniform, Courtney padded through her quarters on bare feet to get some cocoa from the replicator. Returning to the bath, she placed the steaming cup on the edge of the tub as she pulled up her long golden brown hair and clipped it off of her face.

The water felt good, and as she lay back in the soothing bubbles, she sipped her cocoa and thought over what had occurred during the past few days. That one disturbing thought came back to haunt her.

The more she thought about Akemar's oddness, the more it bothered her. Akemar seemed restive, somehow, and Courtney wondered if she should ask the first officer Little Creek if she had noticed a change.

She grimaced to herself, gulping a hot mouthful of cocoa. The idea of broaching the subject with anyone did not seem like a good idea right now. She had nothing concrete, other than a recent counseling session with Ensign Evans and her own feeling that something was wrong. What if other crew members besides Evans suspected something and had said nothing, afraid to come forward and get involved in something that could be quite messy? Shaking her head, Courtney closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out these irksome thoughts that raced through her mind.

"I'm just being paranoid" she sternly told herself aloud, her voice sounding metallic as it echoed off the sides of the porcelain tub. "I'm tired, I'm cranky, we've had a hell of a time lately, and I'm probably imagining things. Poor old Captain Chav must be feeling a lot of strain, too, and here I am, the ship's counselor, giving in to paranoia!"

Taking a deep breath, she slid deeper into the soothing foam, and linked her fingers, steepling them Vulcan-style, trying to erase the troublesome thoughts in her mind. She tried to recall happier times, times in her past before Starfleet, times on previous missions that had been successful when everyone was happier, but, for some reason, all she could picture was the face of the new Enterprise security officer, her eyes sending her an unreadable message, her mouth forming silent words she could neither hear nor read. Suddenly, the feel of the water seemed unbearable to her skin, and she felt the urgent need to climb out of the tub. Struggling to get to her feet, she was overwhelmed by dizziness and nausea, and accidentally knocked the cocoa onto the floor, hot splashes of brown liquid spraying everywhere. At that same moment, the face of the Andorian woman became the face of a stranger, who smiled at her almost mockingly.

Shocked and unable to speak, Courtney slid backwards and might have drowned if she hadn't kicked the automatic water-removal button. As the water went down the drain, her mind was full of confusion as she managed to put on her bath robe. Why had she seen the face of the Enterprise security officer? Had the woman somehow entered her mind? Would she? Who was the stranger she had seen? What was happening to her? The stranger's face became clearer to her and seemed to pull the strength right out of her body. Then the strange vision faded and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

A Giant Leap, chapter 6

It was late at night on board the Enterprise-D when Sam awoke with a start. He wasn't sure why, but he thought that he might have made telepathic contact with Counselor Mudd of the Constellation. He had been introduced to her right after their officer Vogen had died under mysterious circumstances, from a disease he had never heard of. Captain Picard asked him if he would be willing to replace the deceased security officer temporarily and he agreed to do so. He felt that he was getting used to his surroundings now, and really thought he didn't need Cooper tagging along. Cooper decided that it would be best to give him some space and agreed to let him go. Sam had wanted to tell the Constellation's counselor about this leap, despite Cooper's suggestion that he didn't. This desire must have manifested itself within his—or, rather, Tola's subconscious. The feeling that he had intruded into the counselor's mind was so strong that he felt quite guilty. However, that feeling wasn't the only thing that woke him from his light slumber. A computer voice announced that there was a transmission from somewhere called Starbase Twelve.

"Starbase Twelve?" He queried, a little puzzled and a little groggily. Cooper had made a place to sleep on a couch in the living area in Tola's quarters and joined him.

"It's probably from Commodore McCoy." Alice informed him softly.

"Who's that?"

"Just tell the computer to put it through."

Sam complied, and he watched the video monitor with interest as the lovely pattern of stars on a blue background quickly cleared to reveal a very anxious-looking elderly woman.

"What can I do for you, Commodore?" Sam asked with some telepathic prompting from Cooper.

"I think I just had a telepathic nightmare, in which the people of Gamma Trianguli Six were trying to kill me. They also said that they killed Mr. Vogen of the Constellation. Tola, isn't that planet finished preying on innocent people yet?"

Cooper informed him telepathically that the inhabitants murdered her father with a telepathic nightmare.

"Well, uh…yes, Commodore." Sam guessed. "I believe it is. I'm sorry if you had a bad dream and we are all saddened by your loss. I was told also that Vogen died of some disease I never heard of."

"What was the disease?"

"The chief medical officer of the Constellation said it was something called Vegan Choriomeningitis."

"How could he have contracted that? You've been away from GT 6 for nearly a week. That disease takes only twenty-four hours to develop."

"Dr. Akemar said it was a mutant strain."

"Tola, a mutant strain of Vegan Choriomeningitis would take _less _time to incubate, not more. It is impossible for anyone to contract it in the way you describe. You can't catch it like the common cold. You have to be infected by it in much the same way as HIV. Tola, Cooper, I think you have a murderer in your midst!"

***

It had been a strange evening for Doctor Nola Thornn, the Constellation's head neurologist. First, right before her duty shift, she had paused at Chief Medical officer's Akemar's quarters, right outside of her door. There was the unmistakable sound of a woman singing, and really loud music. Thornn had never heard Akemar sing before, and that in itself was shocking. It was an old rock tune, probably from the twentieth century, but she couldn't be sure. It was a lively tune, however…something about how white shirts could be. Shaking her head with dismay, she filed it away in her mind. She planned to ask Mudd about the strange little tune if she should come in.

To her shock, a few minutes later, Counselor Mudd was brought into sickbay on a stretcher. Riker, who had stayed on board for a time, was about to tell her about Sam Beckett, and had discovered her unconscious beside her antique bathtub. At first, he thought he saw arachnids crawling all over her, but soon discovered that he was experiencing some sort of hallucination. Quickly, he found the perfumed bath solution, which had spilled some of its contents onto the floor. He put the cork back in and had it sent to the lab for analysis. As it turned out, it was a highly allergenic and hallucinogenic concoction, and could be purchased dirt cheap on Risa. He learned that it was quite popular with young people, since it was like getting a high without permanent damage to the brain. However, what had caused Miss Mudd to pass out was a mystery. They had also analyzed the cocoa, but there wasn't anything harmful in that. Then, Thornn discovered that Mudd was suffering from Irosene Syndrome. She informed them that the counselor should recover in a couple of days.

***

Doctor Akemar did not know how long she had been trapped in a human body, or whether she would ever be able to return to her Vulcan one. In the room where she was being held, there were no clocks or calendars or any other points of reference. Her mind was not functioning at its usual efficiency as well. She had lost track of time, which seemed to be frustratingly easy to do. She also found it very difficult to maintain and cultivate her usual Vulcan emotional control, especially when she learned of Mr. Vogen's death. She tried to fathom the reason why the human woman inhabiting her Vulcan body would do such a horrible thing. The only possibility that came to her muddled mind at the moment was that Ellsworth Vogen was about to tell Captain Chav that his chief medical officer was not who she appeared to be. That was not a good reason for murder, and certainly not logical. Alia should have known she would be found out sooner or later. Akemar had a new understanding of the human condition. She found that they could not always control their emotions or their often erratic impulsive natures because they were often physically and psychologically incapable of doing so. Unlike Vulcans, humans did not have the advantage of a lifetime of strict emotional control. To be sure, Vulcans had deep-seeded violent tendencies which were much more explosive than humans'. Perhaps the woman named Alia had received some of those violent impulses when she took over her body. That might be another explanation as to why the human female killed Vogen. For the first time in her life, Akemar was allowing herself to feel intense sorrow over the death of a friend. An involuntary tear trickled down her cheek.

Another unaccustomed emotion of embarrassment took the place of the grief for a moment as she heard the entry way door slide open. She quickly wiped the offending tear from her face and outwardly kept her composure.

Two human males and one alien had just stepped into the room. One was a white male, approximately fifty Earth years of age. He reminded Akemar of someone she had read about at Starfleet Academy. At the moment, his name would not come to her. The other was a black male, approximately thirty years old. The alien was white on one side of his body and black on the other.

"Can you stand?" The older human man asked coldly, acting as if he didn't really care if she could or not.

She realized that she had been pumped full of a primitive truth drug called sodium penathol. It made her drowsy and quite vulnerable to suggestion. She also felt a little sick to her stomach. However, she wasn't about to tell them these things, or volunteer any other information, truth drug or no. She was too well trained to give in so easily. She needed an advantage, even if it was a small one. Now that she lacked her Vulcan strength and her telepathic abilities, she felt quite defenseless. She still had most of her medical knowledge, which they had already used without her cognizance, and some of her inbred logic. She also still knew how to apply a nerve pinch, even though she doubted she had the strength to administer one.

"Probably." She replied evenly, but remained seated.

"I am Colonel Green. I'm sure you have heard of me. This is my associate, Mr. Thames. The alien gentleman is Commissioner Bele of the planet Cheron."

Akemar raised an eyebrow, surprised that her assessment of his demeanor was so accurate. This was the man she had read about at Starfleet academy, second only in infamy to Kahn Noonian Singh or Adolph Hitler.

"Green." She uttered the name as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. "You are one of the most contemptible treacherous mass murderers to walk upon your planet."

"Thank you" Green answered with an evil smirk. "I'm glad I'm still remembered in your century. I suppose you are wondering where and when you are."

"The question had crossed my mind."

"I'm sure it has. You are in the twenty-first century."

"What year?" Akemar asked, wanting to glean all the information she could in order to formulate a plan of escape.

"What difference does it make?" Thames snapped impatiently. Green waved him silent.

"2001. You are in the waiting room of my Quantum Leap project."

Akemar's human eyes narrowed.

"What have you done with Doctor Samuel Beckett?"

Thames seemed to start at the name, looking over at Green questioningly. Green ignored him.

"Nothing. This is another complex that I now control."

"I am somewhat familiar with the history of the Quantum Leap project. I understand that the human female using my body is on the starship Constellation. I would be interested to know how that was accomplished, considering one can only travel within one's lifetime. Alia does not strike me as someone who possesses such a long life span."

"So would we, but we don't really know. There was a power surge from a very powerful unknown source and then…poof…you were here."

Akemar's jaw clenched to contain a slight smile. She had also remembered reading about a certain human male working for aliens in the twentieth century. Perhaps he had tampered with time travel as well. However, she was not amused by that so much as the fact that, before her abduction, she had been experiencing the first unmistakable symptoms of what Vulcan females go through at the onset of each Pon Farr. She found it quite amusing that her changeling was going to endure something that would certainly expose her. The symptoms were much like human menopause, but on a much greater scale. Akemar was relieved that, for once, she wouldn't have to endure the seven-year mating cycle.


	7. Chapter 7

A Giant Leap-chapter 7

Alia couldn't believe it when she discovered that a Rolling Stones tune had survived into the twenty-fourth century, but she was glad it did. However, even cranking it up to full blast didn't help her regain some sense of normalcy. When she first found herself in this body, everything seemed fine. She had never leaped into an alien before, so she had no idea what to expect. At first, a sense of incredible stoic calm, something she had never before experienced, took hold of her thought processes. She quickly learned that she was in the body of a creature called a Vulcan, and she was to act a certain way so as not to arouse suspicion among the Constellation crew. She handled things quite well…for a while.

Within a couple more days, she began to feel some very strong physical and psychological urges that, to her, were totally baffling. At first, she contributed those feelings to the stress often associated with a new and strange experience. Over the next couple of days, 'strange' was not an adequate word to describe what she was going through. She found herself becoming increasingly uptight about the least little things. For example, when one of her alien doctors rang her door buzzer, she had been holding a glass of something called Tranya. Her Vulcan hand squeezed it so hard it shattered. She dropped the fragments and gasped in pain and utter shock when she saw green blood oozing from the cuts.

Nola Thornn, the ship's half Orion and half Human neurologist, heard the glass shatter and asked through the closed door if the chief medical officer was all right. Alia started to grow pale, her pupils dilating. No, she was definitely NOT all right! However, she still didn't want to blow her cover, so she played the stoic Vulcan and gritted her teeth against not only the pain from the cuts on her hand, but the inexplicable pain and odd sensations growing inside every part of this body she was in.

Thames was inside the waiting room, trying without success to get Akemar to explain what was happening to Alia. The alien woman refused to divulge the reason for her condition. When Green tried to question her, she looked at him coldly and told him to 'consume fecal matter and terminate'. It took the humans a few seconds to translate the meaning of her words, but Bele was smiling in amusement.

"Vulcans sure have a way with words, don't they?"

Akemar considered it exquisite justice that Vogen's killer was now going through the ravages of Pon Farr. It served her right.

***

It was early the next morning when Alia had shattered the glass in her hand. Thornn decided to accompany her to sickbay and they met Sam along the way, still masquerading as Tola. He had just beamed over from the Enterprise-D to temporarily take the place of their deceased chief of security. They had just stepped inside when Alia suddenly went berserk. She struggled violently while being held by Landarr, a male Deltan nurse and Seldan, Akemar's mate, who also happened to be a nurse. The entire sickbay was in a shambles and Alia was screaming in terror and agony as her Vulcan body went through the Pon Farr.

"This is not my wife!" Seldan shouted over the din.

Alia saw the Andorian security officer and broke free from their restraining grasps. She was hoping another alien could help her understand what was happening to her. Half insane from the pain of Pon Farr, she grabbed at Tola before anyone could stop her.

"Please, help me! I can't take this!" Suddenly, Alia stopped screaming in astonishment as the image of the alien security officer transformed into that of Samuel Beckett. "You, again!" She gasped. Of course, Sam was equally shocked to see the Vulcan doctor's features transform into the very human face of Alia, the evil leaper.

Before she could utter another word, Seldan came up from behind her and gave her a neck pinch. Alia leaped out of Akemar right when she lost consciousness.

***

Doctor Akemar regained consciousness a while later, and found herself strapped in on a diagnostic bed. Sam decided to play act, and pretended not to know why Akemar seemed to think he was somebody else and not the security officer he was pretending to be. The Vulcan woman gazed at him quizzically, seeing only a young Andorian security officer at the side of her bed and the elderly Constellation captain. She was now in complete control over the last vestiges of Pon Farr.

"Please release me." She requested calmly.

"Not until you tell us who you really are." Chav said.

"I am Dr. Akemar. The woman who was pretending to be me has vacated my body. She murdered Mr. Vogen, and may have attempted to murder Miss Mudd."

"What are you talking about?"

"It is true, Captain. Apparently, there is another Quantum Leap facility on Earth, only this one is headed up by Colonel Green." She lifted her head from the pillow on the bed she was strapped to. "Where is Seldan?"

Her husband, now realizing that she was probably Akemar, approached her bedside and touched her right temple with the tips of his fingers in a silent meld to confirm that it was indeed his wife and not an imposter. Satisfied after a few moments, he released her from the restraints. She sat up and Sam watched with interest as the two touched their index and middle fingers together.

"My wife, it is agreeable to have you back." He turned to the captain. "With your permission, sir, I would appreciate a visit with Akemar to the holodeck so we can conclude the Pon Farr ceremony."

"By all means, Seldan." Chav answered, knowing that Seldan could not wait much longer. Sam could tell that he was having difficulty keeping some strong emotions and urges in check.

***

The Constellation and the Enterprise was positioned in the Barnard's star system to proceed with the slingshot effect that would take them back into the past. Sam, as Tola, was listening to Captain Chav while standing on the Constellation Bridge near the main turbo lift.

"Chief science officer Servin has entered our flight plan into our navigational computers, Enterprise. We are all ready at this end."

Servin looked in their direction. Sam noticed that the science officer had huge shell-like ears and was completely bald.

"Likewise here", Picard answered.

"Good. Servin calculates that our window of opportunity is rather narrow and we will have to start right away."

"Understood," Picard answered.

Servin interrupted.

"Sir, a nebula class scout ship has entered within range and is hailing us."

"Put them on screen." Chav ordered curiously. A few seconds later, Sam was looking at the somber expression on the face of Commodore McCoy.

"Greetings, Commodore." Chav smiled nervously. "To what honor do we owe this unexpected visit, ma'am? Are you here to wish us a good journey?"

"Not exactly" McCoy replied. "I am here to hold an investigation into the murder of your late chief of security."

"I understand that there was to be an investigation, Commodore, but we were preparing to go back in time."

"I am fully aware of your current mission." Joanna said tartly, "And I will be accompanying you. I have direct orders from Starfleet Command for me to join you."

"Very well, Commodore. We'll beam you aboard immediately. In ten minutes, we will begin our journey back into the past. I will meet you in my ready room after we are safely there. Lieutenant Tola will meet you in transporter room three and escort you to guest quarters. By the way, Commodore, are you just going to leave that little ship floating around in space?"

The elderly commodore smiled.

"No. There is a pilot on board who will ferry it back to Starbase Twelve. I will see you shortly. McCoy out."

Sam stepped into the elevator as soon as Chav gave him the order to greet the commodore in the transporter room. He had no idea where to go, but, thanks to Al, who was given directions by Tola, he found out where it was. He now considered that now would be a good time to tell the elderly commodore who he really was and who really killed security officer Vogen to let Dr. Akemar off the hook.

***

Vickers awoke and found himself in a room that resembled a Cardassian jail cell. If his captors had drugged him, he could feel no ill effects. However, he had no idea how he got there. The last thing he recalled was going off duty and retiring for the night. Suddenly, he became aware of someone watching him from the shadows of the cell. Alistair was alone with whoever it was.

"Mr. Vickers, I presume." His unseen female companion greeted warmly. "Are you all right? Green's bunch of thugs told me that the woman who murdered Vogen is now in control of your body."

"I think so. Where am I and who are you?"

"You are on Earth in the twenty-first century, inside Colonel Green's Quantum Leap facility in Afghanistan. Our captors have told me everything that's going on, thinking that we can do nothing to stop them. The woman who is now impersonating you is on board the Enterprise. Some other woman named Roberta Lincoln has taken my place on the Constellation, but I'm not sure whether she is friend or foe. I'm really Dr. Thornn. Someone named Gary Seven appeared to me in the form of a hologram while you were asleep and told me about this." She held up a small pen-like device. "It's called a servo. He showed me how to use it to escape this primitive barred cell. I was also told that Lieutenant Tola is being inhabited by Dr. Samuel Beckett. I heard one of the guards mention him. I recall reading about him when I was at the academy. He's some sort of famous time traveler who headed up a project called Quantum Leap."

"You might be right about that. It would explain why Tola was suddenly acting like she had never been on a starship before. Miss Lincoln is probably a friend, since it's obvious Seven is her Al. Where are we?"

"We are in an undisclosed location somewhere near Tikrit. I can get you out of here with this servo."

"Not yet. We still have to help Earth. We can't let that Cheronian or the Klingons conquer this planet. Are you Green's prisoner as well?"

"No. He thinks I'm one of Zoey's minions. He sent me here to interrogate you and to make sure you don't escape. My counterpart on the Constellation has little time before it is discovered that she's not me. She has to get off the ship so she can get back to her MIB headquarters."

"Why does she need to go back there? Also, I have reviewed historical data on this time period. Why aren't you dressed like historical people in black?"

"In answer to that, she needs her servo. Answering your second question, I think that the way they dressed was all Hollywood hype. Seven said that the movies really did damage to their credibility, even though they were supposed to be a covert operation. They really had trouble recruiting people after the films came out."

"I understand." Vickers said with a smile. "Now, how do we get out of here without raising suspicion?"

"You could pretend to actually be the woman you leaped into and I could pretend to be Miss Lincoln."

"Do you think it will work?"

"There is a very good chance they'll buy it." She paused and looked at him/her like an overprotective mother. "Let's be very careful, though. This Colonel Green is vicious to those who cross him."


	8. Chapter 8

A Giant Leap, chapter 8--Author's note: I finally found the rest of the story!

Commodore McCoy stepped into the turbo lift with who she thought was Tola, having a feeling that she wanted to discuss something with her. She told the computer to pause the lift and looked into the face of the Enterprise' new security officer as Al appeared behind her.

"Is there something you wish to say to me, Tola?"

"You are very perceptive, Commodore. Yes, there is. I have a confession to make."

The commodore and Al both frowned at him.

"You killed Vogen?"

"No, ma'am. I'm not who I appear to be."

The elderly officer peered at him closely, seeing only a very young Andorian.

"You look like the new Enterprise security officer. Are you an alien posing as her?"

"Well, she would call me an alien." Sam answered with a smile. "Actually, I'm a human being from the twenty-first century. I leaped into Tola early yesterday morning."

"What are you talking about? Is this some kind of Andorian joke? I'm afraid I don't get the punch line."

"No, it's no joke, Commodore. My name is Samuel Beckett." Al slapped his forehead in dismay. He never liked it when Sam revealed his true identity. "I'm a time traveler. I'm here to see to it that the Duras sisters and that Bele character are not successful in their attempt to take over Earth via my Quantum Leap facility."

Her eyes widened at the name of the alien from Cheron. Her father had told her the story about how hate destroyed their planet. She had also heard of Sam Beckett.

"So, what I read in history class a long time ago was true. You really did leap into people's lives and change things for the better?"

"Yes, Commodore. It's very true. I also know who killed Vogen, and it was not the chief medical officer of the Constellation. It was the evil leaper."

"You mean there is another leaper who does evil instead of good?"

"I'm afraid so. However, I think that Colonel Green forced her to do it. I have known her to be a victim of circumstance, not a murderer. She was probably threatened with death if she did not comply." Sam paused for a moment in thought. "She has already received her punishment. My worry now is where she went after she vacated Akemar."

***

Alia was very relieved to find herself in a human being this time. It was still hard to leap into a man. She had not done that very much, and it was more uncomfortable each time. However, it was Heaven compared to what she had just been through with that Pon Farr thing. She looked into the mirror in his quarters and saw that he was a very handsome gentleman. From the color of his uniform and his sidearm she guessed that he was a part of the security staff on one of the vessels that had traveled back in time to defeat Green and Bele. Green had murdered Zoey and had taken her place as Al's counterpart. She hated what she had been forced to do. She didn't want to murder Vogen, but, it was either that or face death at the hands of Colonel Green. She vowed to herself that she would never murder anyone else. She decided that she no longer feared her own demise. If it meant saving the Earth from creatures like him or that two-toned alien, it would be worth it. She remembered her abduction several years ago. Green had been on the evil Quantum Leap staff as a mere henchman. Zoey had drugged her and taken her to the facility as a guinea pig for their time travel experiments. For years, she was forced to do their bidding, and now, several years later, she decided to make yet another attempt to escape her captors. She patted the weapon at her side. If she, in the guise of whoever this was, was chosen to go down to the Earth, she would try and shoot the equipment that had trapped her for so many years…or, she might try and shoot Green. To her, he was no longer a human being. She felt he deserved death for the thousands of people he had already murdered. He had successfully used Bin Laden as a scapegoat, even though the terrorist was his partner in the planning of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Unknown to everyone but a select few, Green was the mastermind.

***

Once Chav was sure that the commodore was safely in her quarters, he ordered Sam, still in the guise of Tola, back to the Constellation Bridge. He found her rather attractive and enjoyed looking at her. Of course, Sam knew this, and it made him a little uneasy. He hoped he would leap out of her before this male Andorian made a pass at her…or, worse. Soon after Sam arrived back on the bridge, they began the complicated procedure for the slingshot effect with the Enterprise. It was a rough ride, rougher than they expected, but chief engineer Jack Auroras, who, to Sam, strangely resembled Don Adams, said that the warp engines, although needing a bit of work, were in not too bad a condition.

Science officer Servin, who Sam learned was a being called a Tiberonian, made the announcement that they had arrived in the year 2001 A.D., September 14th, to be exact. Also, the scanners showed that the Barnard's star system was completely uninhabited, as was expected. He was also picking up primitive radio and television transmissions from Earth and the Vegan Empire.

"Of course!" Chav said. "The Vegan Tyranny is in this era."

Sam had no idea what that was, but pretended to know. When they assumed standard orbit around the Earth, being careful to bypass the International Space Station and the Hubble telescope, along with other discarded space junk and man-made satellites, and putting on their defensive shields so they wouldn't be mistaken for a UFO, Sam marveled at the ISS and the Hubble telescope, seeing them for the first time from this vantage point.

The science officer also announced that the Enterprise had arrived safely as well and had also assumed standard orbit.

***

Roberta had been told that she would be leaping into a man named Vickers on the Enterprise on her first leap with Seven's transporter, so she was greatly surprised to find that she had leaped into someone who was obviously female. She could only see one thing, and that was the view out of her port windows. All she saw were stars. Was she at least on the right starship? The room was dark. She stood and felt for a light switch. Finding none, she went back to the chair she had been sitting on.

"Swell!" She grumbled aloud. "I can't even turn on the lights!"

"_Please restate request" _a female voice ordered politely. She started, not expecting anyone to be in the room with her. She couldn't see anybody.

"Whoever you are, how in the world do I turn on the lights?"

"_I am the ship's computer. Please request illumination and report to sickbay for a medical evaluation."_

Roberta sighed. She should have expected this.

"Very well. Turn on the lights, normal illumination, please."

"_Acknowledged."_

The lights came on suddenly, another thing that made her nervous. She looked around. The room was strangely but beautifully decorated. She looked down at her body and found that her skin was a light shade of green. _Green?_ She thought with amusement, recalling a book she had read recently, a comical story called "Martians Go Home" (They were little, they were green, and they were _everywhere!_) She grinned, thinking that maybe she had leaped into an actual Martian. She went to a nearby mirror and peered in. What she saw startled and fascinated her.

The face was green, but lovely, the eyes dark and expressive. The hair was black and very beautiful. Gary Seven, in the form of a hologram, appeared behind her and spoke. She, of course, did not see his reflection, and started.

"Hello, Roberta. I'm sorry if I startled you. You are in the body of Dr. Akemar's assistant surgeon, Dr. Nola Thornn. She is half Orion and half Human. I also apologize for leaping you into the wrong person, but there was a power surge of some sort and apparently Beckett and Green were leaping people at the same time. You are on the Constellation, not the Enterprise. Disappointed?"

"No, not really, Mr. Seven. I'm just glad that I got here in one piece. So, what am I here to do?"

"Your mission is simple, Roberta. You must get on board the Enterprise and find Vickers. Alia the evil leaper has just leaped into him. You must stop her from killing any more people. Use your acquired medical knowledge of the physician you just leaped into if you have to."

***

The first group of Constellation and Enterprise crewmembers had successfully beamed down to Sam Beckett's Quantum Leap headquarters in New Mexico, and were readying themselves and the base for the Klingons, Green and Bele. By now, the accellerator was heavily guarded by Constellation security personnel to prevent the commissioner from stepping into it once Green's bunch arrived. Among the security guards were aliens none of the QL people had ever seen in the flesh before, such as a female Gorn, a female Tellarite, and a being called a J'naii, who was either one or the other. Tola, still in the guise of Sam Beckett, tried to explain to them that the J'Naii were neither male nor female. Sam's Quantum Leap scientists, however, still seemed the most intrigued by Lieutenant Tola. By now, Sam was quite used to telepathy, and, for the most part, still enjoyed it.

"Where is Dr. Akemar?" Sam asked. "I thought she had finished with her rituals by now. You did say, Mr. Cooper, that these Pon-Farr things were short for the most part."

"She'll be along directly, Sam." Cooper answered, now comfortable with the idea of calling Mr. Beckett by his real name. It was pretty obvious to those present that their new security officer had experienced something akin to the Janice Lester incident that occurred in the twenty-third century.

***

Dr. Thornn had been in some puzzling situations before, but nothing quite like this. Here she was, trapped in a human woman's body, on a planet she had never been to. (She had her basic training on Mars. Starfleet Academy had two locations. ) Seven had appeared in the cell again, and the look he was giving her proved that he knew something about Orion females and their reputation. She did not appreciate the leer, but understood it, having seen it often during her life in Starfleet.

"Well, from the looks of you, nobody would guess that you are really an Orion sexpot." He said with a smirk.

"Please. You're a fine one to talk, Seven." Nola retorted evenly. "I have heard of heavy petting, but that," She gestured to the "cat" being called Isis in his arms. "is ridiculous! Surely you know by now that that creature is not a cat."

"Touche, Rober--I mean Miss Thornn. I know she isn't a cat, but it's hard to resist...uh...petting her in her cat form. As Spock once remarked, she makes quite a lovely feline."

"People are strangely drawn to me." Isis remarked coyly. "Like full-blooded Orion females, I quite enjoy the attention."

Thornn was becoming uncomfortable with this conversation.

"We need your help, Doctor. Surely, you are aware that Tola and some of your shipmates are now in Sam Beckett's Quantum Leap headquarters."

"I heard about that, but I don't really understand what that has to do with me. I'm a medic, not a bridge officer."

"Lieutenant Tola, as you have guessed, is in Sam Beckett's body." Isis explained softly. "Beckett has been impersonating her for quite some time now."

"So that's it! Who was impersonating Dr. Akemar?"

"Another leaper we know little about named Alia. She leaped into Mr. Vickers soon after that rather dramatic and amusing scene in your sickbay, when Alia finally had had enough of Akemar's Pon Farr troubles."

"I see. That Alia bitch also murdered one of the finest men I ever knew. I am glad that karma caught up with her."


	9. Chapter 9

A Giant Leap, Chapter 9

Roberta Lincoln, still in the guise of Dr. Nola Thornn and Isis, who was now in human form, made their way on a gravel path leading to Green's complex. Before beaming down with the first contingent to stop Green from taking over Sam's facility, Roberta had discovered something very interesting before they left the Constellation; there was another fellow, coincidentally named Gary, who was getting a newspaper a day in advance, courtesy of another being who was the same race as Isis. This other "cat" preferred the guise of a common tabby to that of a more exotic black cat. These two men, Sam Beckett and Gary Hobson, were both unwitting pawns in a very large game. They were being used to tidy up loose ends in the fabric of time, to do the Earth some good. They both thought it was a noble endeavor, and could understand why Sam and Gary were not told the reason why they were doing these good deeds. There was really no need, considering that they were both nice guys. Roberta just hoped that in their cases, nice guys didn't always finish last.

***

Two scientists, one a Russian astronomer and the other a Canadian astronaut, were taking a break on the International Space Station, doing some star gazing. The view out the windows was spectacular, given that there was no atmosphere to block and distort the scenery. They both found the view quite relaxing and enjoyable. They began to have a rather lively discussion about whether either of them thought that there was life on other planets, or if they would ever get to meet a real extraterrestrial. Suddenly, something caught the Russian's eye.

"What is _that?"_

"What is what?" The Canadian noticed that his friend Ivan Burkhov was forming a puzzled frown on his face. He pointed out the nearest window.

"That! Have you ever seen anything like that before?"

"No, Ivan. I don't believe I—"

They both gasped in amazement as a large unidentified spacecraft suddenly appeared before their very eyes. They both stared in wonder as it loomed closer to the station. The shape of it looked very familiar to the two of them.

"Tim, if I didn't know better, I would swear that was a Klingon warship from Star Trek!"

Just as suddenly, the ship or whatever it was, vanished. Tim Johnson grinned nervously. "If it was, they just cloaked. What's in that coffee you're drinking?"

"You're drinking it too, comrade."

***

Vickers, still in the guise of Alia, and Dr. Thornn, still in the body of Roberta Lincoln, had managed to escape the cell in Green's complex. Green's facility was much bigger than Sam's. It also proved to be a labyrinth of passageways, corridors and tunnels, with a few dead ends to confound escaped prisoners. Despite the fact that the two of them had a good sense of direction and Thornn still carried Roberta's servo, they were soon hopelessly lost.

"If only I had a tricorder or a communicator." Vickers mumbled. "We would be out of here in no time."

"Agreed. It looks like we'll have to just think of a way out of this maze. Now I know how a lab rat feels." She looked at him curiously. "By the way, are you getting used to your female body?"

"Not yet. It's very disconcerting. I wonder how Sam Beckett handles it."

There was an unvoiced fear between them, and they both knew what kind it was. Vickers and Thornn knew they would have to keep their host bodies alive, so that their real owners could return to them. They were both keenly aware of their own eventual mortalities, now more than ever. "Do you have any idea how we are going to get out of here?"

Before Nola could answer, they heard the sounds of many footsteps and clicking noises as several guns were pointed in their direction.

"You're not going anywhere." Green barked with a grim scowl.

***

The Constellation crew did not know that much about Commissioner Bele's extraordinary abilities. They included teleportation, mind control, invisibility, and matter transformation, not to mention that he could produce his own defensive shield and high voltage energy from his body. The Constellation crew, in fact, knew next to nothing about the planet Cheron or its former inhabitant. Not even Ensign Evans could sense completely the danger they were in, and she was used to picking up on such things, being part Thasian. She was the most tense of the landing party. Tola, still in Sam's body, mistook her uneasiness for zeal.

"Try and relax, Miss Evans. The commissioner and the Klingons haven't arrived yet."

"With all due respect, Lieutenant, I think they have. I have a strong feeling that you will soon be contacted by the Constellation."

As if on cue, Tola's com badge sounded. It was a strange feeling, watching Sam tap it while he was still in her body.

"Tola here" Sam said with a little uncertainty. Tola understood his confusion, and his desire to say his own name instead of hers, but it was not yet time to tell the Native American first officer the truth.

"Lieutenant, this is Little Creek. The Klingons have just been spotted entering Earth's orbit and cloaking near the International Space Station."

"I recommend that we get off this com link immediately and begin radio silence, ma'am."

"Good idea. We will not engage the enemy just yet. Please try and handle things on your end. Little Creek out."

***

Doctor Thornn and Vickers were taken to an interrogation chamber deep within Colonel Green's Quantum Leap facility, just outside the dusty little village of Tikrit in Afghanistan. Besides the good doctor and Vickers, there were also Colonel Green, Thames (this time in the flesh), and five armed guards.

"Five guards for two prisoners," Vickers observed rather sardonically. "Rather excessive, wouldn't you say?" When Green didn't respond, Vickers continued in further sarcastic tones. "Of course, that was what got you into your present situation. If you hadn't have been so brutal when putting your enemies to death, you wouldn't be stuck here in this dried-up wasteland."

"Why do you think I have brought you here?" He hissed. "As a security officer from the distant future, I'm sure you can supply me with weaponry that will turn the tide of events in my favor."

"And why should I help a scumbag like you?" Vickers asked contemptuously.

"You are a very brave man, Vickers. If you don't, Alia, my leaper aboard your ship, will make sure that your Enterprise will never make it back to the future. Instead, in your body, she will destroy it while completing her assignment to dispose of Samuel Beckett."

"Why are you so eager to kill Doctor Beckett?" Thornn asked, still seen by Green as Roberta Lincoln.

"If you can't tell, I'm not going to tell you, Miss Lincoln." Green sneered.

"I think I know why." Vickers said.

"I'm sure you do, limey, being you're from the future." Green sighed, looking briefly up to the ceiling. "But, I'm more interested in hearing from you about armaments I can use to regain my lost territories. Who knows? If you give me what I want, I might forego killing Beckett." Green concluded in a sinister cat-and-mouse way.

"Very well. I'll give you what you want, if you promise not to take any action against the Enterprise or Dr. Beckett."

Thornn couldn't believe her ears and looked at him with horror.

"You have my word." Green smiled slickly. Then, turning to Thames, ordered him to inform Alia of his deal with Vickers and to tell her to help the Enterprise and the Constellation defeat the Klingons and Bele. The Duras sisters were an even greater threat to Green than Dr. Beckett, especially now that Vickers had apparently agreed to help Green regain his territories.

Thornn turned to Vickers in shock and dismay.

"Just what the hell are you thinking of, Vickers? You can't seriously be considering helping this goon! How could you?"

"I've lost enough friends on Bajor during the Cardassian occupation, and I plan to lose no more." Vickers replied in such a vehement tone of voice, he had Green convinced of his sincerity of his willingness to help. Thornn knew, of course, that he was never on Bajor, and then suddenly realized that he was up to something.

"I understand completely." Green smiled. "Take blondie away and put her back in the holding cell. I'll deal with her later. Mr. Vickers, let's you and I talk in private."

With that, two of the guards escorted Thornn back to the holding cell while the other three remained with Green and Vickers.

"So, what kind of weapons are you interested in, Mr. Green?" Vickers asked.

"Several kinds, Englishman. Alia told me about your force fields, phasers, torpedoes, sonic grenades, tractor beams—"

"How about we start with a quantum torpedo?" Vickers suggested, cutting Green off.

"Sounds interesting and very fitting. How does it work?"

Once Vickers explained the properties of quantum torpedoes, Colonel Green slapped him on the back as if he were an old friend and partner in crime. "Now that sounds perfect!"

***

Nola sat alone in her cell, when she heard a thud outside it. Almost immediately after, the cell door opened and two women came in. She knew who the first woman was. It was Roberta Lincoln, still in her body. She found it rather unsettling to see herself step into the cell. Lincoln introduced her other raven-haired companion.

"This is Isis. She's a shape shifter. Where is Vickers?"

" I bet some quatloos he's pretending to help Green while actually planning his downfall." She recalled that he used the same line about how he had lost enough friends during the Cardassian occupation on a group of Romulans who had once held him hostage as a reason for helping them when they threatened his shipmates. " I'm sure now that whatever weapon he gives that Gornshit will be booby trapped."

"So, do we go and rescue him?" Roberta asked, as Thornn handed her back her servo. She told her to keep it for now, holding up another one that Seven had beamed into Thornn's quarters.

"I suggest that we leave Vickers where he is right now." Nola said. "He'd be pretty upset if we get in the way of whatever he has planned. Besides, maybe whatever he's got in mind will solve our problems with that creep Green."

"Maybe we should return to Gary Seven and see what he thinks." Roberta suggested.

"Yes, maybe we should." Isis agreed silkily. Upon doing so, they dragged the unconscious guard who had a silly smile on his face, into the holding cell and Roberta used her servo again to return to Gary Seven with Nola Thornn.


	10. Chapter 10

A Giant Leap, Chapter 10

As the two Klingon ships entered into orbit around Earth in the year 2001 and the two Federation ships stayed out of their sensor range waiting for further developments, Lursa and B'Etor beamed down to the New Mexico Quantum Leap complex. There, Sam Beckett and his people, along with the security forces from the Enterprise and the Constellation, waited for them. The Duras sisters were accompanied by Commissioner Bele, a large contingent of Klingon warriors, and Arne Darvin. The sisters had left their ships under the command of the two commanders who were under them.

"So when do I get paid for bringing you here?" Darvin asked.

"When we succeed in our mission!" Lursa barked shortly.

"That wasn't our arrangement!" Darvin complained.

"Stop whining like a sniveling Ferengi!" B'Etor snarled. "Don't forget that you are supposed to be a Klingon, despite that hideous human face you wear. So act like one!" At that, Lursa started to deploy their troops, barking orders in terse clipped Klingon as they approached the main entrance to Sam's complex, under the cover of night. One of the Klingons set up an isolation pod in the middle of the large concrete field, effectively cutting off Quantum Leap from the rest of the world, allowing nobody to enter and no communications to leave.

***

The landing parties from the Enterprise and Constellation, along with the staff of Quantum Leap, had set up a command center in the waiting room. From there, Tola, Sam (still in each other's bodies), Alice, and Calavicci received reports from Ziggy. They also were hearing from Sam's Quantum Leap security personnel and the security officers from both Federation starships, about the activities of their alien enemies some nineteen stories above them at ground level.

"The invaders have established a perimeter around the entrance to the complex and are approaching our hidden forces." Ziggy the computer announced calmly.

"Ensign Evans reports that our Federation security forces are in position behind the entrance and that the Klingons have set up an isolation pod." Alice added. "She also said that she apparently spotted the evil leaper and that she is disguised as Vickers."

"Do the Klingons know that Starfleet forces are here?" Tola (still in Sam's body) asked.

"From what we can overhear with our listening devices and scanning their communications, they think that they are going up against primitive twenty-first century security forces." Rivas responded.

"So far, I would say that is our best advantage so far" Tola said. "Right now, they are most likely to be overconfident, typically underestimating their opposition. So, when we hit them, we hit them hard and we hit them fast. Don't give them time to think. Now, are all the preparations in place?"

"Yes," Al replied. "If these Klingons somehow get by your forces, we have our QL security personnel positioned on each level. Also, we have arranged for the elevators to be shut down, forcing the hosers to use the stairwells. Once they try to use them, we have forces stationed on each landing to ambush them. If that fails, we have explosives rigged to take out the stairs."

"Luckily for us," Tola replied, "their isolation pod prevents them from beaming down from their ships as well. The only way they can use their transporters now to reach us down here is if they turn off their isolation pod. Once they do that, we would be able to have our ships beam down reinforcements."

"And once they find our Federation forces are down here, they aren't going to risk shutting down their isolation pod unless it is to return to their ships." Worf concluded. "And we Klingons typically don't like to retreat."

"I'm glad you are on our side, Mr. Worf." Riker said with a smile.

It was at that moment that Gushie and Tina Martinez O'Farrell entered the waiting room to announce that all of their defenses were in place and that the renegade Klingons looked like they were going to blast their way into the complex.

"All right then, everyone!" Worf said eagerly. "It is time to fight and be victorious!"

"And, sir," Sam added, "no matter what, Bele must not be allowed to reach this chamber. He is your prime target. Without him, they would never be able to carry out their plans."

Sam noticed that the security officer named Vickers, who he recalled was actually Alia in disguise, seemed a little disappointed about something. However, she kept her peace for now. She would bide her time until Green appeared and then she would kill him. Tola picked up on her thoughts and realized that she was not interested in killing Sam Beckett. She only wanted to be free of the people who had forced her to do their evil bidding all these years. Tola relayed that information telepathically to Sam.

***

Roberta, Isis and Dr. Thornn had told Gary Seven everything that they knew about Vickers' "agreement" with Colonel Green, and now waited for Gary's decision as to whether or not to go back for him.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea for now." Seven said thoughtfully. "For one thing, if Vickers disappears on Green, it might lead the colonel to retaliate by having one of his goons do something to the Federation ships. Besides, if Vickers is successful in what we suspect he might be up to, it could work to our advantage. Finally, it might be possible that Vickers won't be able to leap back into his body unless he is allowed to succeed in what he has planned."

"Are you sure?" Isis asked.

"Not completely." Seven admitted. "But it seems to be the most logical course of action. Are you in agreement, Dr. Thornn?"

"Yes, given the facts at our disposal for the moment." Nola answered.

"Good" Gary said, turning to Isis. "Now that that is settled, you have a little job to do."

"Yes, Mr. Seven." Isis purred. "I have been looking forward to it. I'll get onto that matter right now. Excuse me, Roberta and Doctor Thornn."

***

It had been a little under a week since Vickers had started building the quantum torpedoes that Green had asked for. There were ten torpedoes all ready for launching, just outside of a bunker on the edge of Colonel Green's Quantum Leap complex in Afghanistan. As Vickers made the final checks on the status of the booby-trapped torpedoes, he heard Green speak up from behind, asking if everything was in order and if he had programmed the coordinates he gave him into each of the torpedoes. Green had ordered one to hit Washington, DC, one each for Kuwait and Pakistan and the other seven to hit sea ports along the coasts of the United States. This was because the rebel forces were all prepared for their trip, and waiting for the orders to set sail from those ports that Green wanted targeted. As it was, the US land forces were bottled up and meeting strong resistance by Green's forces in Afghanistan. They had also started bombing targets around Green's headquarters in retaliation for the Nine-Eleven attacks. Green hoped that his fortress would survive the retaliation strikes. He had already helped Bin Laden escape the country via his own personal rat line, and onto a sleeper spaceship he dubbed the Botany Bay.

"Yes, Mr. Green. Everything is all set for launching." Vickers replied as he handed Green a set of remote controls, and tried to keep a smug smile from forming on his face.

"Excellent" Green said. "In that case, we shall leave for the US. We can watch the targets being destroyed through my remote satellite feed on my submarine." Green paused, and then continued. "Are you sure they won't be able to shoot down the torpedoes while they are being launched?"

"As I said before, Colonel, the torpedoes are protected by individual force fields until they reach their targets." Vickers replied. "The force fields will activate when the torpedoes are launched."

"All right, then." Green said. "Time to go to New Mexico. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Vickers."

'_Likewise, numb nuts.' _ Vickers thought, a little smile escaping on his lips.


	11. Chapter 11

A Giant Leap, Chapter 11

The Federation and Sam's Quantum Leap Security forces were all in place when the Klingons began their attack. The sealed front entrance to the complex burst inward with a violent explosion. As the Klingons made their way through the ruined entry way, they found themselves in an empty, large hallway/foyer that ended about sixty yards ahead, branching off to the right and left at ninety degree angles. Leading the way were the Duras sisters, accompanied by several of their fiercest warriors. Commissioner Bele and Darvin brought up the rear; Bele surrounded by several assigned to guard him with their lives.

"So where is everyone?" roared one of the warriors. "Where are the defenders of this place?"

"You know Humans" another replied with disdain. "They run like frightened children at the first sign of trouble!"

"Shut up!" Lursa barked, as they continued down the hallway.

"Why worry?" B'Etor added. "These Humans have never seen a Klingon before, nor have they ever encountered technology like ours. They are primitive. As Vorkton said, they're probably cowering under their beds at the thought of the unknown."

"Obviously, sister, you know nothing about Earth history. These primitives as you call them had a habit of shooting first and asking questions later. They could be quite ferocious when cornered. None of that soft Federation civility that made their descendants so docile exists here."

"Maybe so, but we still have the superior weaponry." B'Etor replied, as they neared the end of the hallway. As if in reply to her statement, the Federation forces hiding around the corners at the end of the hallway jumped out from each side, opening fire. Taken by surprise, the Klingons fell back as Federation phasers set on heavy stun whizzed through their ranks. Worf and Riker were in front of the rest of the Federation personnel. Cooper signaled the others to advance on the enemies as well. The Duras sisters pulled back as their warriors stepped out in front of them, drawing the Federation fire.

The Federation forces picked off three Klingons as the others fought back tenaciously. Ensign Zorn had been asked to join the away team, even though he was a nurse. Captain Picard knew his true nature and asked him if he would be willing to kill a few of them by extracting the sodium chloride from their bodies. Klingons didn't taste very good to him, but he said he would be happy to do it if he got the chance. The Klingons managed to shoot four Federation soldiers, but were forced to retreat due to several factors. One was the superior numbers of the Federation forces; another was the close quarters they were fighting in, and the final factor was that they hadn't expected to be going up against superior firepower from their own time. So, although they put up a valiant struggle, the Klingons soon found themselves forced out of the destroyed entry way and back into the large parking area, dragging with them their three stunned comrades. They huddled around the isolation pod together, trying to decide what to do next, while still firing upon the Starfleet forces trying to hold them off.

"How the hell did Starfleet get here?" Darvin asked angrily.

"How should I know?" B'Etor snarled defensively.

"One thing is for sure" Lursa said. "There must be a Federation starship somewhere in orbit. There is no way that we are going to be able to take this complex until we destroy that ship up there. That way, we can drop the isolation shield and send for more reinforcements without worrying about their sending for their own. However, we will need to move fast. So, once we turn off the pod, we'll have to return to our ships and destroy theirs before they know the reason we left here."

"May I make a suggestion?" Commissioner Bele spoke up.

"What is it, Cheronian?" Lursa snapped irritably. Once Bele had finished with his suggestion, Lursa smiled savagely. "Good idea, Bele. Do it."

With that, Bele vanished. Then, a few seconds later, B'Etor turned off the isolation pod and the rest of the Klingons transported back to their ships.

***

As Sam and Tola waited for further word on the Klingons, they didn't have to wait very long. Ziggy immediately announced in her cool, smooth emotionless voice that the Klingons had left. Tola was thinking to herself about how Ziggy reminded her of a Vulcan when it hit her what the Klingons were up to. Realizing that they would have to eliminate the Federation ships in orbit before returning with reinforcements, Tola, forgetting that she was still in Sam Beckett, rushed over to Sam and hit the com badge on his chest.

"Tola to Little Creek! The Klingons are going to attack! Tell the Enterprise!"

Puzzled by the sound of Sam's voice, Little Creek on the Constellation was momentarily hesitant.

"Tola? What happened to your voice?"

Realizing the danger they were in, Sam answered in Tola's voice.

"No time to explain, Little Creek! I suggest you open fire on them before they open fire on you! Destroy those Klingon ships if you have to!"

"Our sensors have already detected the Klingon weapons powering up, Tola. We will take care of them. Little Creek out."

"Good thinking, Sam." Tola complimented him. Suddenly, before he could respond, they were both surprised to hear a strange voice from the direction of the waiting room.

"Yes, very clever, human. However, you both won't live long enough to see the results of the fight up there."

Sam and Tola both spun around to see who it was. It was none other than Bele of the planet Cheron, covering them with a Klingon disruptor in his hand.

***

As Colonel Green activated the remote satellite feed on his submarine, bringing up their targets on ten individual screens, he took a seat that gave him a clear view of all ten targets. Once settled in, Vickers watched as the technicians in charge of the remote satellite broadcasts activated an eleventh screen, showing Green's QL complex, where, just outside, in a concrete bunker, the torpedoes awaited launching.

"Are the tracking systems operational?" Green asked.

"Yes, sir. Everything is ready for launching."

"Well, in that case, let's get the show on the road." Green said gleefully, pushing the ten buttons on the remote launching device. Upon doing so, the screen showed ten flashes of light streaking up into the sky. As they soared up into the wild blue yonder, the technicians monitoring the tracking screen announced that all the missiles were on course for their designated targets.

***

B'tok Zorn wondered in his mind if Cheronians had any salt in their bodies. If only he could get close enough to that ingrate! Sam, not knowing very much about the "Deltan", didn't bother to answer, but gave him a brief, puzzled look. Then, he looked at Bele with wonder.

"How did you get past all our security personnel and get down here?"

"Unlike you mere humanoids, my species doesn't require machinery to transport. We teleport, and can do so quite naturally." Bele paused for a moment. "Oh, I should say I can do so, since I'm the last of my kind."

"Interesting" Tola responded. "So how come that fact doesn't appear in the logs of Captain Kirk or the crew of the original Enterprise?"

"That's probably because I led Kirk to believe that I was using artificial means of transport whenever I used the ability." Bele replied smugly.

"But, that still doesn't explain why—" Tola began. She was cut off by Bele, who growled impatiently.

"Enough trivia, human. Now you both are going to take me to the QL accelerator. Once there, I'll be taking the place of Dr. Beckett in the past. Then, we'll see how Beckett's planet's history develops. I have a lot of interesting plans for you monotones. Once I'm done with this planet's past, you won't recognize it."

"I'm afraid you'll have to abandon your plans, Commissioner, because now you're going to be history yourself, knuckle nose."

The unmistakable voice of Admiral Al Calavicci spoke from behind the alien. Bele immediately spun around, ready to blast Al with his Klingon disruptor. However, with his trained military reflexes, Al shot Bele first with a standard issue military pistol. Although able to deflect the harmful effects of such energy-based weapons as phasers and disruptors with ease, Bele found himself ill-equipped and ill-prepared, and, in fact, utterly defenseless when it came to good old fashioned lead projectiles. The bullets from Al's gun smashed into Bele's midsection and head. As Bele fell dead, Al looked at Sam and Tola and then at the lifeless body of the alien.

"Boy, he sure was a nozzle. I wonder if we should give the body to the guys at Area 51 to pickle, along with the other alien stiffs from the Roswell Crash of '47."

"Al…!" Sam and Tola both groaned in unison.

***

The technician in Colonel Green's headquarters was the first to notice the change in the course of the quantum torpedoes.

"Colonel, we have a problem." He announced gravely.

"What?" Green responded in alarm.

"The missiles have changed course and are heading back towards the Quantum Leap complex in Afghanistan." Startled, Green pushed the auto destruct button he had had Vickers install on the remote control device for the torpedoes. However, after asking the technicians if that had take care of the problem, they replied with great astonishment that the torpedoes were now moving faster toward Green's complex.

"Shoot them down! How long before impac--?"

"Too late, sir! The torpedoes have already taken out the complex. There's nothing left."

"_YOU!!" _Green screamed, turning angrily towards who he thought was Vickers in Alia's body. He withdrew his pistol from its holster. "You did this to me!" Green raged, firing. He missed.

"Wait!" Alia screamed back, having leapt back into her own body just before Green's Quantum Leap complex was destroyed, and returning Vickers to his. "You are making a mistake! I'm not--!"

"The only mistake I made was trusting you!" Green roared, as another bullet flew from his gun, slammed into Alia, and flung her backward into the viewing screens. Green fired two more times. She was dead before she hit the floor.

Thames, who was standing behind Green, suddenly whipped out a pen-like device. Before Green could ask him what it was, he aimed it and killed the colonel. Then, to everyone's surprise and amazement, Thames, who was actually Isis in disguise, transformed into a raven-haired breathtakingly beautiful young woman, wearing a diamond-studded necklace. Then, she vanished before their very eyes, her mission accomplished.

***

Vickers suddenly found himself back with the Federation forces in Sam's QL headquarters. Evans informed them all that he was now who he appeared to be. Dr. Thornn and Roberta Lincoln were both themselves again. Seven had transported the good doctor back to the Constellation to her quarters just as they were starting to fight with the Klingons. As they did, the Enterprise approached from behind the two birds of prey and opened fire. Taken by surprise and expecting only one Federation starship, one of the Klingon ships suffered serious damage to its port nacelle unit, while the other was hit in the center on the underside of its outer hull. The second Klingon vessel was leaking oxygen and power quickly. It veered off to the right in retreat, but not before it fired on the Constellation, temporarily disabling the starship's warp drive capabilities. As the Klingon vessel fled from the solar system, the Klingon ship with the damaged nacelle kept up its attack on both the Enterprise and the Constellation, giving the other Klingon ship the time it needed to make good on its escape. As the fleeing Klingon ship disappeared from scanner range, the remaining ship put up a valiant struggle, even though they were no match for the combined efforts of the Enterprise and the Constellation. So, in a final act of defiance, it diverted all power to its shields and set course for the surface of the Earth, having set its matter/antimatter reactor core on overload, turning itself into a super-bomb, aimed at the remaining Quantum Leap facility. That's where Tola, Sam and the landing parties from the two Federation ships awaited the results of the battle above them.

When word finally reached them on Tola's com badge, it came from Commander Little Creek, who announced that one Klingon vessel had escaped and the other one had set course for Sam's complex, and was about to self-destruct.

"Alien Kamikazes!" Al said in disgust, as they all heard the Constellation first officer speak again.

"_We've locked onto the remaining Klingons and beamed them into the brig. We are beaming you all up right now."_

"No, wait!" Tola (still in Sam's body) called out. Not realizing it was the security officer speaking in Beckett's voice, Commander Little Creek began transporting her and the other Federation personnel up to the Constellation. It was too late for Sam to give the order to wait on her behalf, for transport had already begun. At that moment, Sam and Tola finally leaped out of each other.


	12. Chapter 12

A Giant Leap, Chapter 12

Sam found himself beside Tola , both standing on a transporter alcove. They heard Captain Chav over the intercom, asking if they had all been beamed aboard safely. The transporter officer answered with an affirmative and told him that they had some guests. He ordered Tola to the bridge with their new guests, saying they were preparing to fire upon the doomed Klingon ship before it reached Earth's atmosphere. Al, Sam, Tola and Vickers quickly made it to the nearest turbo lift. Tola ordered it to take them to the bridge. They arrived just in time to see both the Enterprise and the Constellation fire simultaneously on the alien spacecraft. It exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Chav explained without looking at the new human arrivals that they couldn't let it crash into Earth. It would raise too many questions down below, and they had enough to deal with. The alien science officer was listening to old-style television and radio broadcasts from the surface, and none seemed to take notice of the blast in space. All were still commenting on the Arab Kamikaze attacks on the World Trade Center and its horrible aftermath. Also, it was very early in the morning, and most people were asleep, including the ones on the International Space Station. To avoid future questions about the origin of the debris from the Klingon ship, they had beamed it all into the cargo hold, each starship taking half. They must leave no evidence of their presence in this time period. After that, they both quickly raised their defensive shields so they would once again not be mistaken as UFOs. The captain turned to face his new guests.

"Gentlemen, welcome to the Constellation. I'm Captain Chav. Unfortunately, you already know too much about us, and we will have to erase your memories before we return you to the surface. Which one of you is Samuel Beckett?"

Sam smiled at Tola, and then stepped forward.

"I am, sir. I can understand your reason for wanting to wipe our memories, but who would believe us? Besides, I'm not the type of person who would use my knowledge of Earth's future for selfish gain. I'm a scientist, not a 'sniveling Ferengi'."

Chav grinned and the rest of the bridge crew chuckled.

"I'm sure you aren't, Mr. Beckett. However, we can't take that chance. Please accompany Tola to sickbay. Don't worry about the procedure. We will just target your memories of us and the Enterprise and what happened on Earth."

"There is no need for that, Captain." Al said. "When Sam leaps again, his memory of this incident will probably be purged anyway."

"Al, I'm myself again, for the first time in years. I want to stay for a while. Let them do the procedure."

"All right, Sam. It's up to you."

"Right this way, gentlemen" Tola said, gesturing towards the turbo lift on the right hand side of the bridge.

***

Sam and Al found they were alone on a stretch of highway and had no idea where they were or how they got there. They saw a large tour bus coming towards them and quickly stepped to the side. Neither noticed a beautiful black cat with a diamond-studded collar leap out from behind a cactus beside the road and scamper out in front of the bus, causing the driver to come to a screeching halt to avoid hitting it. When they finally did notice it, the cat just sat there as they approached the bus. The rising morning sun reflected off of the bus' windows as the door opened, revealing a tall thin man with shoulder-length black hair. He stepped out to greet the duo. He was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and appeared to be in his early fifties. Sam suddenly realized that not all of his memories of the Enterprise had been purged. Although older and definitely human, the man bore a strong family resemblance to Lieutenant Alice VF Cooper, the Seventh. Sam introduced himself as well as Al and they were not too surprised to discover that this man was indeed the real Alice Cooper.

"Boy, are we glad to see you!" Al said to the rock star. "We are in need of some transportation."

"I would be happy to oblige, sirs. How did you end up out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"We are part of a top secret government project that met with disaster, due to mechanical malfunctions." Al answered with the false memory implanted in his brain. "The pumps supplying our facility with fuel backed up and sparks from a faulty gauge ignited the fuel, turning our fuel tanks into literal bombs. So, now we are stranded. If you could help us, Mr. Cooper, we'd really appreciate it."

The famous rock singer stood there silently for a moment, contemplating what he could do.

"Hop in. We are on our way to Phoenix for a benefit concert for Nine-Eleven victims tonight. Our other three buses, containing our equipment and a few roadies already arrived there last night. That means that they should already be unloading. I'll take you two along with a groovy chick who digs the sixties named Roberta who hitched a couple miles back in search of her cat. We'll drop you off at Phoenix so you can contact your superiors." Alice paused for a moment, and then concluded. "Phoenix is about two hundred miles from here, so I estimate it will take us about three or four hours to get there."

"We really appreciate your help, Mr. Cooper." Sam said, glancing curiously at Al as he watched Roberta pick up her cat named Isis and smile at them. Sam didn't recognize her, but smiled back and nodded in her direction. She was dressed like she just stepped out of the sixties. She had on a white blouse with puffy long sleeves and a tie-dyed mini skirt, white fish net stockings and matching go-go boots.

"Not a problem, gentlemen. We have some pop on board if you guys are thirsty. We have been on the road for a good twelve hours. It's nice to see some other people. We were kind of looking for an excuse to stop, and it was darn lucky that Miss Lincoln's cat came out when it did. We might be a little wired from the caffeine too."

"In that case, sir, would you mind if I drove?" Asked Sam. "I know how too much caffeine can make a person feel. I wouldn't want you folks to get into an accident."

"Thank you, sir. I wouldn't mind at all. It will give us a chance to unwind. By the way, I will give you the pop and you can take the cases back to your cleanup crews. I'm sure they are going to get thirsty out in the desert sun."

"I'm sure our crew would really like that." Sam agreed with a smile. "However, I don't think we could carry that much soda pop on our own."

"No need to worry about it." Alice replied. "Just wait here a moment." The rock star went back into the bus for a few minutes. During that time, Roberta, still holding Isis, quickly made her approach.

"Mr. Beckett, do you remember me?" Roberta asked.

"No, I don't believe I—"

"I do." Al interrupted. "You're Roberta Lincoln and that cat you are holding isn't really a cat but some sort of alien shape shifter."

"Right, but don't spread it around. I have a message for Sam, but, since he doesn't remember me, I will give the message to you, Mr. Calavicci. Tola told me to tell Sam that he would make a better taxi driver than a Starfleet officer."

Al and Sam chuckled as she smiled back and sauntered back onto the bus with Isis in tow.

***

Al and Sam got on the bus with Alice Cooper, not noticing that Roberta had activated her servo and vanished with Isis. They went back to Supervisor 194's secret headquarters, knowing that they would have to submit a full report to those in charge of temporal issues. Roberta knew that the remaining memories of the Enterprise and the Constellation would not be believed by anyone on Earth, being that what they experienced was very much like a famous science fiction television series that she, along with millions of others, had grown to know and love. She and Isis were pleased that their missions had gone so well.

The Enterprise and the Constellation both made it back to the twenty-fourth century, and both were now undergoing repairs at Utopia Planitia, after dropping off the Klingons on their home world. Alice Cooper the Seventh arrived at Lieutenant Tola's quarters, after having finished with the reports from his involvement.

"Greetings, Tola. I trust you are recovering from your experience."

"Yes, I am. I am curious about one thing, though. Do you think the Duras sisters survived and that they were in the ship that got away?"

"I honestly don't know, but, if they did make it back, I'm sure that we will hear from them again. They don't strike me as the kind who just disappears into the woodwork. Speaking of disappearing, I am curious about Miss Lincoln and especially her feline companion. What sort of creature is that Isis, anyway? Does anybody know?"

"I doubt that anybody but the mysterious Mr. Seven knows for sure, but my best guess is that she is a Dowd. They do have a gift of mimicry."

Alice smiled. "That sort of reminds me of a Bajoran girl I used to date in high school, who had the strange habit of stuffing her bra."

"That is not all that unusual for teenage girls."

"Yes, but what she stuffed them with is. She used tribbles."

"Tribbles?" Tola asked with an amused and unbelieving grin.

"Yep. I have to admit I didn't realize they were tribbles at first. At least, not until her breasts started purring every time I touched them. They sure felt real—at least through her clothing. She tried to convince me that the purring was a natural phenomenon for Bajoran females, but I didn't really believe her. So, I borrowed a medical tricorder from the school nurse's office and scanned her."

"So, what happened?"

"Well, later, the school authorities found out and she was suspended from school on charges or cruelty to animals. However, I have to admit that I lay up late at night in bed wishing that I could have traded places with one of those little critters."

At that, Tola burst out laughing. When her laughing subsided long enough for her to talk, she said "Thanks, Alice. I needed that. I was remembering poor Mr. Vogen when you came in."

"Yeah," Alice replied. "I thought you could use a good laugh. I did notice you seemed a little preoccupied since we returned from the past."

"I'm curious about something else, Alice. Who built Green's complex in Afghanistan?"

"Dr. Sammy Joe Fuller."

"You mean she built it for Green?!" Tola replied in a shocked whisper, having met Sammy while still in the guise of Sam Beckett. She had also learned from Al that Dr. Fuller was Beckett's daughter from a previous leap. "She was helping that mass murderer?"

"No, she never learned that Sam was her father. She didn't build that other complex for Green. She built it for the United Nations Scientific Council before Green took it over. She was killed when she tried to stop him from taking control of the complex."

"Poor Sammy Joe!" Tola sighed. "I'm glad that Isis killed that madman."

"Me too. I am also glad you are back in your own lovely little body, honey." Alice smiled affectionately. "I have really missed being with you, if you know what I mean."

"I know, and I feel the same way. By the way, did you hear the news about Chief medical officer Akemar of the Constellation?"

"What news is that?"

"She and her husband are expecting their first child in a few months."

She picked up a stray thought from Alice about 'banging a gong and getting it on' and it made her chuckle.

THE END


End file.
